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On 12 August 1563, shortly after the recapture of Le Havre from the English on 28 July, king Charles IX made his entry into Rouen. Six days later, on 18 August during a lit de justice (bed of justice, a special session of the parlement de Rouen at which the king presided), the majority (adulthood) of Chares IX was declared on the initiative of his mother, queen Catherine. Charles was thirteen. This meant the end of the formal regency that Catherine had exercised for her son, but, enjoying the confidence of her son, her powers remained as extensive as they had been in an unofficial capacity. Indeed, Charles declared in his short speech that his mother would continue to govern the kingdom. By this means, she hoped to provide her son with the authority required such that challenges to royal authority would wilt away. Rebellion against a king who had achieved his majority was a crime of lèse majesté. Indeed, the king himself declared that those who going forward defied his authority would be treated as would a treasonous rebel. The chancellor of France, L'Hôpital spoke. He praised the recent recapture of Le Havre from the English, noting that by their attitude England had 'forfeited its rights to see the return of Calais to its control'. He extolled the province of Normandy for its venerable royal past. He justified the declaration of the king's majority at the age of thirteen, arguing that while traditionally royal majorities had been declared at fourteen years old, the king was entering his fourteenth year with his now being thirteen. This was a necessary modification due to the troubles of the kingdom. Charles' role as the sole font of justice and absolute authority was spoken upon also. The edict of Amboise, the pacification edict that had brought the first French War of Religion to a close earlier that year was integrated into the king's declaration of majority, a move by Catherine that Cloulas describes as 'audacious'. It was very rare to hold a lit de justice at a parlement other than that of Paris, this was intended as a humiliation of the latter parlement for its resistance to the policy of religious pacification. This humiliation compounded with the parlement of Paris' existing grievances concerning the pacification policy.

While in Rouen, a royal edict was promulgated on 16 August by which the king's subjects were ordered to surrender their weapons. Only cavalrymen of compagnies d'ordonnance (ordinance companies - heavy cavalry core of the royal army), archers of the prévôts (provosts), garrisons, guards and members of the kings household would be permitted to bear firearms. Nobles could also enjoy the possession of firearms for their defence in their homes. By the means of this edict, the crown hoped to regain its monopoly on violence that had been compromised by the civil war.

The recapture of Le Havre had begun the process of peace negotiations with England. These talks took place, first at Gravelines, then Monceaux from 9 November, before moving to Paris on 15 November. These negotiations were undertaken for the French by the seigneur de Lanssac and bishop of Limoges. These negotiations would culiminate in the 1564 treaty of Troyes.

Court

Much to the vexation of the Spanish ambassador, Protestant and Catholic nobles fraternised at the French court in the year after the return of peace.

In the royal council, the historian Constant delineates the body into several discreet factions. Firstly, the zealous Catholics, numbering sixteen men, among whom: the cardinal de Lorraine, brother of the deceased duc de Guise; the cardinal de Guise another brother of the late duc; the duc de Montpensier a prince du sang of the house of Bourbon-Montpensier; the duc de Nevers of the Italian family of Gonzaga; the seigneur de Tavannes, lieutenant-général of the province of Burgundy; and René de Birague, lieutenant-général of the province of the Lyonnais and future Chancellor of France. On the other end of the scales were to be found the six Protestants of the council: the prince de Condé a prince du sang of the house of Bourbon-Vendôme; the seigneur de Coligny, Admiral of France; the cardinal de Châtillon, brother of Coligny; the seigneur d'Andelot, brother of Coligny; the prince de Marcillac and the seigneur d'Estrées, grand maître de l'artillerie (grand-master of the artillery). Finally between these two camps was the largest of the three, the moderates who adhered to the policy of the queen mother Catherine. Chief among these figures was L'Hôpital, chancellor of France; the seigneur de Gonnor surintendant des finances (superintendent of the kingdom's finances); Morvillier, bishop of Orléans and future garde des sceaux (de-facto Chancellor of France); and Monluc, bishop of Valence and diplomat. The moderate camp enjoyed sufficient numbers to always be in the majority during deliberations.

Though Protestant, Condé's affairs at court, in particular that with a certain dame de Limeuil, a maid of honour to the queen mother Catherine, brought him in for rebuke from the leading Protestant theologians including John Calvin. They charged that his conduct was unbecoming of a moral Protestant leader. In addition to this affair, Condé dallied with the widow of the maréchal de Saint-André, Marguerite de Lustrac. Though prone to philandering, when he received word that his wife, Éléonore de Roye, was on her deathbed, Condé hurried from the court to be at her side. She forgave Condé for his adultery, and urged him remain true to Protestantism. The death of the princesse de Condé severed the link between the prince and the house of Montmorency. Decrue sees an immediate rupture in relations following her death. He wrote to Beza to apologise for his past adultery. Nevertheless, when his son by the dame de Limeuil was born, he recognised the child, to much scandal. Catherine had the dame de Limeuil put under arrest. She was only in captivity for a while, before she was kidnapped by Condé. He further enjoyed the company of the Catholic duc de Nemours, playing tennis with him and swore to always be his friend, without either troubling the other over their consciences. Without request to do so, Condé ceased the conduct of Protestant preaching in the royal residences around the time of his affair with the dame de Limeuil. In addition to these various offences, the fact Condé had agreed to sign the edict of Amboise in 1563 was a compromise to his credibility among the Protestants, as the peace was seen as a sell out.

The duchess of Ferrara, Renée, daughter of king Louis XII was forbidden from conducting Protestant preaching at the royal château de Fontainebleau and her residence there.

While the admiral de Coligny hoped to see Condé married to the daughter of the German Count Palatine, Catherine and the Lorraine-Guise saw alternative matches for him, the former looking to the widow of the duc de Guise, Anne d'Este, the latter to a niece of the cardinal de Lorraine. At stake in these competing proposals, Condé's party. To the great relief of the Coligny-Châtillon, the prince de Condé would instead marry in 1565, the Protestant Françoise d'Orléans. The marriage was celebrated at the court. His new marriage revitalised his commitment to the Protestant cause.

The English decried the abuses the Protestant Coligny and Andelot were subject to, the Spanish ambassador meanwhile bemoaned that the French court was entirely Protestant. The Papal nuncio Prospero Santacroce, urged Catherine send Coligny and d'Andelot away from the court. Catherine retorted that it was more prudent to keep them there, as if they were instead on their estates, they would be plotting and holding assemblies.

The duc de Nevers, Louis de Gonzague, was the brother of the duke of Mantua. He married the heiress to the duché de Nevers, Henriette de Clèves on 4 March 1565. He was a firm Catholic, and in the estimation of the historian Chevallier, prudent in outlook.

The Protestant Andelot enjoyed the position of colonel-général de l'infanterie. This was to the displeasure of several recently elevated Catholic infantry regiment commanders affiliated with the queen mother Catherine: her cousin Strozzi, the sieur de Charry (a 'faithful servant') and the the comte de Brissac, who refused to subordinate themselves to a Protestant. Their defiance of the authority of d'Andelot was encouraged by the crown.

Hoping to cool down the tensions in the army, the royal soldiery was distributed across the kingdom to the key border cities of Toul, Verdun, Metz, and Calais. Only the king's guard remained with him.

Feud

The Lorraine-Guise family held the admiral de Coligny responsible for the death of François de Lorraine, duc de Guise. In particular, the duc de Guise's young son Henri de Lorraine, duc de Guise enteretained a passionate hatred for Coligny, and his brothers Andelot and the cardinal de Châtillon. This was despite the fact their suspicions were, in the term of the historian Jouanna, unverifiable. Coligny had informed Catherine that while he had no part in the assassination, he did not regret that it had transpired considering it to be a 'great good' both for his family, and the kingdom at large.

At the end of March 1563, the duc d'Aumale moved to see legal proceedings opened against Coligny in front of the parlement for the murder of his brother, the duc de Guise. Coligny protested in a memorandum to Catherine, in which he excoriated the duc de Guise as a brutal killer and noted that the killer of the duc de Guise had declared him innocent of involvement in the murder before his execution. This memorandum was published, and distributed internationally.

The English agent, Smith, reported to the English statesmen, Cecil, on 3 May that Coligny required an escort of 500 to 1,000 gentleman for his safety at the French court.

On 11 May, Coligny and the seigneur d'Andelot, with several hundred horsemen, made for the French court. They were met on the road by the prince de Condé, who counselled him in the name of Catherine, to retire to his home. Coligny obeyed, leaving Condé and Andelot to defend him at court. This earned the admiral the rebuke of the Protestant theologian Theodore Beza, the historian Crété however sees little room for manoeuvre in the circumstances. Around this time, Coligny considered going into a form of exile by retiring to Coligny-le-Neuf between Burgundy and the Savoyard ruled comté de Bresse. Condé lived up to his defence of the admiral, presenting a declaration to the court on 15 May in defence of the admiral over the matter of the duc de Guise's murder. He was followed by the maréchal de Montmorency, son of the constable de Montmorency. The maréchal observed that as this was not a quarrel of religion or the crown, his father intended to support his nephew Coligny with all his power and influence. The younger Montmorency likewise, would devote himself to the cause of his cousin.

Indeed, in these years, the constable de Montmorency was firmly of an anti Lorraine-Guise policy. He sent his secretary to the prince of Orange in the Netherlands to make clear his opposition to the designs of the cardinal de Lorraine.

With nobles lining up to support both Coligny, and the Guise, Charles intervened. He forbade anyone to cause provocations over the matter.

On 26 September, the Lorraine-Guise party made a great show of their mournful arrival at the court. They begged at Charles' feet to be allowed to pursue justice against the admiral de Coligny. The conseil privé assented to the opening of such a case. No sooner was this consent granted than the cardinal de Châtillon intervened to request that cognisance of the case be denied to the parlement of Paris, who had 'prejudiced themselves' by their hatred. This was then agreed to in turn, and the matter was referred to the grand conseil. This was to the frustration of the Lorraine-Guise party, who pushed for other courts to take the case. Charles was keen that neither side sought to achieve victory in the dispute by extra-legal means, and that they would refrain from grand shows of military power by travelling only with the horsemen required for their typical train.

Such a promise was unacceptable for the Coligny-Châtillon party. They entreated Charles in a remonstrance to disregard the slander raised against them. They desired to see a good peace, and it was the Guise who had seized upon the unreliable testimony of Poltrot de Méré (the duc de Guise's assassin) to pursue a vendetta. It was noted that Coligny had retired to his estates, as had been requested. The Guise by contrast, had come to court in a grand show of force. Coligny alleged the Lorraine-Guise were prepared to pursue extrajudicial justice against him if they were denied it by the crown. Indeed, he noted several assassins had been sent to kill him that were in the duc d'Aumale's service. It was further alleged that the Lorraine-Guise family, during a moment of the queen mother Catherine's illness, had intended to seize the king, take him to Paris, and then execute the constable de Montmorency.

In November, Coligny made his way to return to the French court. No sooner was he on the road than Aumale announced his intention to come to court, with over 1,000 horse. Deeply concerned, Catherine bade Coligny return to his estates. Coligny refused to back down, arguing it would degrade his honour. Instead, he proclaimed that going forward he would remain with the court, both to protect his reputation, and to better execute the charge of his office of admiral. He shadowed Charles and Catherine as they moved to the capital, arriving a day after on 20 November. His entry was surrounded by a host of nobles, both those who had joined him on the journey, and those who had come out to meet him. With his arrival, the Lorraine-Guise departed from the Louvre and made for the hôtel de Guise. Thus, the admiral resumed his position in royal council.

According to the English ambassador Throckmorton, Coligny's life remained in danger, and an archer who had been tasked with assassinating him was arrested. English observers also claimed that all mail to Coligny and d'Andelot at court was screened by Catherine.

On the morning of 1 January 1564, the sieur de Charry was walking along the Saint-Michel bridge with a captain La Tourette and another soldier when they were attacked by several men. The sieur de Charry's killers were Coligny's ensign, the Protestant Chastelier Portaut, the seigneur de Mauvans (a Protestant commander of the south) and a third man. The deed done, the men fled along the quai des Augustins and reached their horses. This assassination came a day after Charry had engaged in an argument with the seigneur d'Andelot to whom he was supposed to be a military subordinate. Charry's killer, Chastelier Portaut, was suspected by the lieutenant-général of Guyenne, Monluc, an associate of the victim, of only being the trigger man for a greater figure. This was the view taken by the wider Catholic party. By this, Monluc implied that the killing was undertaken on the orders of Coligny or d'Andelot. Crété suggests by contrast that the killing had little to do with religion, and was rather a private quarrel brought about by the sieur de Charry having recently killed a brother of Chastelier Portaut.

A few days after this murder, Charles, on the advice of Catherine, declared that the Coligny-Guise dispute would be put on ice for three years. In the intervening period, neither side were to act upon the affair. This was agreeable to Coligny, but of great distaste to the Lorraine-Guise party, who departed court in disgust.

Crété sees in Catherine's approach here, a denial of justice to Coligny, who lost the ability to have his innocence proclaimed. By this means, the threat of vengeance could be allowed to remain hanging over his head. She notes this was indeed the opinion on the matter of the contemporary seigneur de Tavannes, a confident of Catherine's.

A little while after the departure of the Lorraine-Guise, Coligny departed court on 19 January 1564. Though he would briefly return to court in March 1564, he would be absent from the court on his estates for the next two years. Here, he was far away from the hatred he enjoyed with the Lorraine-Guise party.

When, d'Andelot married a certain Anne de Salm, a Catholic noble from Lorraine, this aroused the vexation of the house of Lorraine-Guise. Andelot appeared before Nancy, the capital of Lorraine, with a hundred horse and requested entry. The duc de Lorraine informed him he anticipated the presence of the cardinal de Lorraine imminently, and that he should seek his lodgings elsewhere. Andelot and Anne rendezvoused in the nearby village of Essey. As they entered the château, the Protestants fired an arquebus salute, in the manner of the German reiters. Hearing all this a little way away, the young duc de Guise, only fourteen-years-old announced he wished he had an arquebus so that he might fire on the 'rogues'.

Not long after this episode, the duc de Lorraine wrote to Andelot, prohibiting him from undertaking a Protestant marriage in Essey, or undertaking any preaching in the city. After a few days of celebration in Essey, the Protestants departed for Coligny's domain of Châtillon.

Showdown in Paris

On 8 January 1565, the cardinal de Lorraine let it be known he intended to enter the capital in force, with a guard of arquebusiers. With him also, was his brother the duc d'Aumale and many others, heavily armed. His ambitions to take stock of his popularity in this fashion were challenged by the governor of the capital and the Île de France, the maréchal de Montmorency (marshal of Montmorency) who showed him the king's declaration of 13 December of the previous year, in which it was declared that no one of any social standing might travel about under arms. Though the cardinal de Lorraine enjoyed a dispensation on this matter granted to him by the queen mother Catherine he did not present this to Montmorency. Crété imagines the reason for this as having been that the cardinal de Lorraine felt it was beneath his dignity to present it to Montmorency.

The cardinal entered Paris via the porte Saint-Denis under arms as he had planned on 8 January. He had with him 30 arquebusiers and two hundred cavalrymen. On the rue Saint-Denis,by the church of the Holy Innocents, his force encountered that of the governor Montmorency. The cardinal de Lorraine was beseeched to lay down his arms, but he refused. At this moment, an arquebusier in his entourage shot a gentleman who was with the maréchal de Montmorency. Montmorency and his men then charged, and in the scuffle that followed, the Lorrainer party was dispersed. Lorraine and the young duc de Guise were forced to shelter in the nearby house of a merchant. Come the evening they withdrew to the hôtel de Cluny. The victorious Montmorency did not pursue the scattered Lorraine partisans, but, according to the contemporary historian Aubigné, his men did march by the hôtel de Cluny every day, and taught the people to sing mocking verse. Lorraine withdrew from Paris but his brother, the duc d'Aumale, stayed near the city with a host of nobles. This was to the apprehension of the maréchal de Montmorency. He wrote to Charles and Catherine to appraise them of what had transpired in the capital and assure them of his loyalty. The maréchal sent word to the admiral de Coligny to come and support him in the capital. The maréchal de Montmorency's brother, the seigneur de Méru who was sympathetic towards Protestantism also hurried to the capital. Coligny would indeed rush to proffer his aid to the maréchal, arriving at Paris on 22 January with 300 gentlemen. He would stay in the capital until 30 January. The maréchal de Montmorency convened a council comprising the seigneur de Boisy and several parlementaires (the présidents de Thou, Séguier and de Harlay. Before these figures, the presence of Coligny at his side was justified. The admiral was a 'loyal man' and would not deal in matters of religion during his time in the capital. Coligny then spoke, noting that he was only here as his presence had been requested by the maréchal de Montmorency, and that he had no other ambitions for his presence than to see affairs that had been ignited by a rogue few soothed. He noted that since the peace, 500 Protestants had been killed, and had received no justice from the authorities, with Catherine and Charles only offering words and instructions. Another meeting transpired the following day, in which Montmorency and Coligny were met by various bourgeois of the city, ecclesiastics, and the prévôt des marchands (provost of the merchants - de facto mayor of Paris). Coligny took the opportunity to remind them that he had once been governor of Paris, and reinforced the message of the day just gone. Coligny then went to the parlement, where he was welcomed by de Thou.

In royal council, the constable de Montmorency fiercely defended the actions of his son.

Meanwhile the prince de Condé who was at this time in a period of détente with the Lorraine-Guise family came to the support of the Lorraine-Guise party. He decried the actions of the governor Montmorency as an abuse of his authority and hurried to Paris himself, arriving around the end of the month with 300 horse. Condé's wife had recently died, and there was at this time a prospect of a match for him with the late duc de Guise's wife, Anne d'Este. The maréchal de Montmorency decried his presence in the city as he had that of the cardinal de Lorraine, and the prince was unable to make it past the Bastille. This occasioned a new spat in royal council, as the constable de Montmorency came in for rebuke from the cardinal de Bourbon. Bourbon argued that Condé, who was of royal blood, had much more right to be in the capital than the admiral de Coligny, who was merely nephew to Montmorency. Hoping to defuse this explosive situation, Catherine ordered Lorraine, Coligny and Condé all depart from the capital. Meanwhile, Charles complimented Montmorency on well maintaining order in the capital. At the end of January, Catherine dispatched the seigneur de Thoré to the capital, so that he might report on the state of things.

The cardinal de Lorraine later complained in letters that he had almost met his death in the showdown of Paris.

Menace and assassination

During May 1566, the English agents in France reported that the Catholic party worked to remove the admiral de Coligny from his charge as admiral. Coligny had refused to yield the charge, unless he was granted that of governor of the king's person. Failing this, plots were hatched to have him, his brother Andelot and the seigneur de La Rochefoucauld assassinated. Coligny understood the cardinal de Lorraine to be the architect of this plot, but when he demanded justice from the king he received none.

Fiscal state of the kingdom

The first French war of religion had left the kingdom of France with many debts. In a speech, the chancellor L'Hôpital let it be known that Charles owed 160,000 livres to the gendarmerie, 230,000 to the German reiters (mercenaries hired during the war) 354,000 to the Picard and Champenois soldiers, 1,030,000 to the Swiss soldiers and 1,050,000 to the German infantry (also mercenaries).

In the hopes of settling the expenses of the war which had ruined the treasury, church assets with incomes amounting to 5,000,000 livres were alienated by an edict of 13 May 1563, much to the delight of Protestants. Financiers were put on trial, with some sentenced to death, and litigants taxed.

The alienations made against the church failed to create a fiscally sound situation in the kingdom. The constable de Montmorency proposed a tax on paper in the hopes of remedying this, but this tax was rejected by the parlement.

Church affairs

The Pope summoned seven French bishops (those of Uzès, Aix, Valence, Oloron, Lescar, Chartres and Troyes), who were suspected of Protestantism, to appear before him in Rome. Among the summoned was the cardinal de Châtillon, who was burned in effigy in Rome. There was little appetite in the French government to see Frenchmen extradited from the country to sit before Papal judges. Papal justice was neither directed by the king, nor was it possible for it to be appealed to the parlements.

The cardinal de Châtillon would subsequently undertake a marriage with a certain Isabelle de Hauteville. The Spanish asserted the two had been living out of wedlock for a while before this. The wedding of the couple transpired on 1 December 1564. Present for the occasion were the cardinal's two brothers, Coligny and Andelot, in addition to the prince de Condé. Though now married, the cardinal would continue to wear his red cardinal robes when he frequented the French court. The Papacy was scandalised by the cardinal de Châtillon, a Protestant cardinal living in 'concubinage', and was particularly interested in his rigorous prosecution.

On 11 December 1566, six French prelates were declared by the Papacy to be guilty of heresy. Their titles and benefices were to be forfeit. Pope Pius V demanded the French crown execute this judgement. Decrue sees the Pope's condemnation of his nephew, the cardinal de Châtillon, as the nucleus of his antipathy towards his nephews, whom he had previously enjoyed hopes of one day being restored into the fold of the church.

The royal deficit was such in 1566, that even with the selling off of church property, a hole of 1,800,000 livres was still left, with an immediate need for 600,000 livres. This poor fiscal situation did not stop Catherine and the king from living large during this period. Catherine made a request of money from a dozen bishops, and those cardinals present already in the French court, to cover the French deficit. They shot down this proposal.

Grand Tour

Over the course of the Grand Tour, there was to be much consideration given to the administration of justice. Even before the king's departure, in January 1564, an ordinance was published by the king comprising 39 articles which discussed both justice and the policing of the kingdom.

On 24 January 1564, the French court departed from Paris, and made for the royal residence of the Château de Saint-Maur which was near Vincennes. When the cardinal de Lorraine reunited with the French court in January, his reception was a cool one. He had recently returned from the council of Trent and sought to see the Catholic Tridentine decrees (the outcomes of that ecumenical council) adopted in France. He pushed this position in royal council on 22 February and was met with stringent opposition from the chancellor L'Hôpital. L'Hôpital was his families former client who had defected from service to the house of Lorraine-Guise in favour of that of the queen mother. Lorraine exploded at this 'insolence', accusing the Chancellor of being a secret convert to Protestantism, for his wife and daughter were both Protestants. L'Hôpital shot back that the Lorraine-Guise bore the blame for the massacre of Wassy and the first French War of Religion. Lorraine appealed to the queen mother, that the Pope was now ready to make the concessions she had sought from the church in 1562, communion under both kinds (receiving both the bread and the wine during Mass) and the liturgy being partly in French, Catherine however was no longer interested. Many opposed the Tridentine decrees on the grounds that their adoption would compromise the Gallican liberties of the French church. The proposal had been made contemporaneously to efforts in France to sell off church property. Various other decrees of the council attacked the autonomy of the French church as concerned clerical justice, and asserted Papal supremacy over Catholicism. Indeed, in response to 'the reformation of the princes' a Papal proposal at the council by which princes would only be able to levy taxes in times of great difficulty or war with the 'infidel', the crown had ordered the French delegation at the council withdraw. The cardinal de Lorraine, initially part of the opposition in the council had undertaken an about face of the course of his time in Trent and become a partisan of the ultramontane (Papal supremacist) cause. He was unable to convince the French delegates to return to Trent. From Saint-Maur the court made for the château de Fontainebleau where they arrived on 31 January. The court would rest at Fontainebleau for the next forty-three days. A joint Hispano-Imperial-Savoyard embassy came to Fontainebleau at this time, to ask that the French king to join a conference of Catholic powers at Nancy which would deliberate on the implementation of the resolutions of the council of Trent and the eradication of Protestantism in France. Charles rebuffed this advance, noting that while he would live and die in the Catholic faith, he little desired to rupture his edict of pacification, or plunge his kingdom back into war.

There were an unusually large number of festivities in the court, with suppers overseen by the constable de Montmorency and cardinal de Bourbon. In addition to the feasts, combats were held, comedies enjoyed and a mock assault undertaken on a constructed fortress. In the combat, which saw a party of knights assault an enchanted castle (which featured a giant and devils) where women are being held captive, the prince de Condé led the defence of the castle, and the four maréchaux of France attacked the place at the head of groups of men-at-arms. The wizard Merlin predicted that only the most valiant gentlemen could break the spell that held over the fortress. The young duc d'Orléans had command of the platoon for the assault on the magic castle. Trapdoors, fire throwing devils and other challenges awaited the attackers. Only the king himself would gain entry to the tower. Another combat saw two teams of six knights (one of which was led by the future duc de Retz) fight one another. In one episode, twelve Greeks and twelve Trojans, stand ins for Protestants and Catholics, settled a dispute over the beauty of a lady by armed confrontation. It was not just combats that consumed the courts times. In a pastoral written by the poet Pierre de Ronsard, accompanied by the lute, Catherine took on the role of a shepherdess presiding over the royal children: 'Orléantin (the duc d'Orléans), Margot (Marguerite), Angelot (the duc d'Évreux), Navarrin (the prince de Béarn), Guisin (the duc de Guise). In this performance, Orléans recited some of Ronsard's work. As the days of celebrations continued, more and more nobles and officials arrived at Fontainebleau. It became clear they were gathering for the coming journey around the kingdom.

The French court was, in this era, a peripatetic one, moving between various residences along the Loire and in the Île de France. However, the coming journey around the kingdom would be of a completely different scale.

From 13 March 1564 to May 1566, the French court undertook a tour of the kingdom. Over the twenty-eight months of the travel, the court would cover a distance of almost 4,000 kilometres, and make 108 ceremonial entries into towns. The north of the kingdom, bordering the channel, would not be covered in the tour's journey. However, the king had visited Rouen the year previous. Rather, the majority of the expedition would focus on the war torn south, and those cities particularly troubled by religious disorder. By the means of this tour, it was hoped that the people of France would be bound tighter to their king Charles, and to Catherine. This was after those connections between the crown and the people had been frayed by the preceding civil war. It would also be possible to display for the people of the kingdom the power and virtue of the crown. Potentially festering local conflicts would also be quenched as the king arbitrated on religious disputes, and heard grievances. The stages of the journey varied in length between eight and forty kilometres. When the court stayed in a place, public Protestant worship, if it were allowed there by the edict of Amboise, was to cease until their departure. The courts progress for this tour was of a grand scale, with thousands of persons and animals. In total there were around 10,000 persons, including a large array of soldiers (described as a veritable army by Solnon, indeed it comprised four companies of men-at-arms, a company of light cavalry and the French guard under Strozzi), the households of the various greats, the royal council, the chancellery, the treasury and chests filled with linens, tapestries and crockery. In Catherine's entourage alone were to be found 300 ladies, containing many princesses and wives of office holders. In addition to these ladies were a host of servants, tutors, chaplains, valets and others. Among the grandees travelling with the court were the constable de Montmorency, the cardinals de Bourbon and de Lorraine, the prince de Béarn (future king Henri IV of France), the prince de Condé, the king's brother the duc d'Orléans (future king Henri III) and the king's sister Marguerite. Also present were the various members of the court, princes du sang (princes of the royal blood), the Swiss and Scots guard, foreign ambassadors to the French kingdom and various young nobles. Through this comprehensive journey around France, Charles, Orléans and Béarn received a geographic education of the contours of the French kingdom no prior king had enjoyed. The participants in the tour were not a static group, but rather waxed and waned over the course of the journey.

Notably absent from the tour was the recently returned cardinal de Lorraine. Having been spurned at the court when he attempted to present the Tridentine decrees to the royal council, he retired to his archbishopric of Reims. From here he promoted the council of Trent through the sponsoring of a translation of the acts of the council. From 25 November to 13 December, the cardinal de Lorraine hosted a council at Reims. He undertook a lot of speaking for this council, proclaiming that before one sought to reform the church, one must first reform the self. He announced he was happy to be cross-examined over his conduct at Trent and Poissy. The other bishops gathered there protested that they did not wish to critique him. On 29 November, a profession of faith was made by those present, starting with the cardinal de Lorraine. On 4 December, a hot dispute arose during the meeting over the matter of the 'heretical prelate', the cardinal de Châtillon. The cardinal de Lorraine avoided participating in this particular debate. Ultimately, the council only produced, in the words of the historian Venard 'lackluster statutes', deferring some matters to a future council that never transpired.

Also absent were the Protestant Châtillon brothers, who like the cardinal de Lorraine, retired to their estates. Though the seigneur d'Andelot did accompany the tour in its initial steps.

Catherine had the ambition for the tour to also serve as a great diplomatic exercise, with possibilities to rendezvous with her son-in-law the king of Spain Philip II, the Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian II (in Lorraine), her son-in-law the duc de Lorraine and his wife, Catherine's daughter, Claude. With Maximilian, it would be perhaps possible to negotiate a marriage for Charles with his daughter Anna, and one for Marguerite with his son Rudolf.

While the king was on his travels, great seigneurs (both Catholic and Protestant) were prohibited from spending time in Paris, with the exception of the cities governor, the comte de Dammartin.

During the course of the tour, the king distributed the honour of the collar of the Order of Saint-Michel, the highest order of French chivalry, with abandon. It was granted to those nobles who were loyal to the crown. Oaths of obedience were received, both by Charles and his mother.

Later on the progression, the court was joined by the duc d'Orléans's younger brother the duc d'Évreux (more famously known by his later titles as the duc d'Alençon and duc d'Anjou).

The court made its departure from Fontainebleau on 13 March. The tour began in the east of France, making for Sens, where they arrived on 14 March. The urban officers made their way out of the city to greet the royal party and offer them a silver vase. After three days in Sens, the court departed on 17 March for Troyes, where the peace with England was to be ratified. They were greeted a way from the city by a troop of satyrs and indigenous Americans, a nod to the current explorations of the New World that were being undertaken. Pillars had been raised, with statues of justice and piety astride them. There was also a triumphal arch. The king touched those with scrofula and both he and the queen mother Catherine washed the feet of thirteen poor men and girls. Inside the city, the royal party celebrated an elaborate easter, the Protestants held their own celebrations four leagues out from the city. Catherine hoped that by the king's celebration of Easter he would illustrate his Catholic credentials. The court at large had scrupulously observed Lent prior to Easter. Álava, the Spanish ambassador, was delighted by the devotion to Catholicism shown by Charles and Catherine. Both the prince de Condé and the seigneur d'Andelot participated in the Protestant Easter. Protestants made themselves present in the city to complain of the abuses they suffered in the hopes of redress. On 27 March, Andelot petitioned for Protestant worship to be permitted in several towns of Champagne, as well as Nantes in Brittany. Catherine rebuffed Andelot's request. Andelot then appealed to his uncle, the constable de Montmorency, but he likewise ruled against his nephew. Unable to attain satisfaction on the matter of the obedience of his subordinates as colonel-general of the French infantry, Andelot departed the court. Peace was also finalised in the city with England, which was signed by Thomas Smith and Nicolas Throckmorton for the English, and the bishop of Orléans and secretary of state Bourdin for the French. By the terms of the treaty of Troyes, signed on 12 April 1564, the French reconquest of Le Havre was ratified, as well as the acquisition of Calais. In return for the permanent possession of Calais, an indemnity of 120,000 livres was afforded. This was a symbolic location for the French, the same place where the 1420 treaty of Troyes had been signed. The signing of this peace was an occasion for great celebration, with bonfires lit for the occasion. From Troyes the court made for Châlons, where they stayed for five days.

A Protestant synod took place at La Ferté-sous-Jouarre on 27 April involving both the duc de Bouillon and the prince de Porcien. Rumour had it that the prince de Porcien was assembling men on his estates, and therefore the constable de Montmorency summoned him to join with the court, so that he might explain himself. Summoned, Porcien was able to clear his name.

At Bar-le-Duc, on 7 May, Catherine bore witness to the baptism of her first grandchild, the son of the duchesse de Lorraine, Claude and future duc de Lorraine Henry. The king held his nephew at the baptismal font. Catherine was the babies godmother, and king Charles and Philip II the child's godfather. Philip was not present so was represented by the count of Mansfeld. While there, Charles enjoyed an interview with the duc de Lorraine, with whom he was on strong personal terms despite a dispute over the Barrois territory. The Barrois consisted of two parts, one, with a capital at Bar-le-Duc which was in vassalage to the French crown, the other with a capital at Saint-Mihiel held by the duc de Lorraine in full sovereignity. Alongside these more serious discussions, eight days of masquerades, tournaments and festivities were enjoyed. Departing from Bar-le-Duc on 9 May, the grand tour arrived in Langres. This was a very Catholic town, and the Protestants had no luck in appealing for the right to worship there. On 19 May, the royal children resided in Champmol, the burial place of the Valois dukes of Burgundy. Three days later, they were in Dijon, capital of Burgundy. After the elaborate royal entry into the city on 22 May, tournaments were put on by the lieutenant-général of Burgundy, the sieur de Tavannes. A mock assault on a fortress by royal artillery was displayed for the royal party. Catherine would be accommodated at the residence of the sieur de Tavannes. While in Dijon, a lit de justice was held before the parlement of the city. On 27 May, the court crossed the Saône so that they might spend time at the château of the comte de Charny in Pagny. The court followed the course of the Saône arriving first in Beaune and then in Chalon on 31 May, before moving on to Mâcon on 3 June. The seigneur de Tavannes justified the fact that the city of Mâcon had not disarmed with the coming of peace on the grounds that here the Loire and Saône rivers were to be found very close to one another, in addition to the sensitive border nature of the place. It was in Mâcon the royal party united with the queen of Navarre, who had brought several Protestant ministers as well as a large armed escort of 300 horse. It was flanked by eight Protestant ministers that she greeted the king. Though Catherine had recently defended the queen of Navarre before the Papacy, Jeanne had little inclination towards moderation. She had arrived a few days in advance of the royal party. On 1 June, her servants derided the Corpus Christi procession led by her brother-in-law the cardinal de Bourbon as it charted its path through the streets. This was a joint indignity to the Bourbon family and to Catholicism. When the court arrived on 3 June, the cardinal de Bourbon appraised Catherine of what had transpired. Catherine was keenly aware she enjoyed the company of the Spanish ambassador, and thus could not be indifferent in this matter. Catherine arranged for a new procession on 8 June, to which the queen of Navarre was to be party. By contrast, the Navaresse party acted respectfully to this procession, much to the delight of the Spanish ambassador.

While the court was at Mâcon, the constable de Montmorency advanced ahead of the royal party, to Lyon. He took over the towers and the artillery of the Protestant dominated city, facing no resistance. Holding on to the keys of Lyon, he established a garrison in the city.

From Mâcon the court made for Lyon, entering the place on 13 June. Lyon had enjoyed both Protestant and Catholic worship within its walls since 1563. Before the court entered Lyon, the Protestants were ordered to vacate the Cordeliers chapel they had occupied in the city. So that it would not seem like Lyon was receiving a special prohibition, Charles declared on 24 June that wherever the court travelled during the tour, Protestant worship was to be suspended for the duration of their stay. Marriages and baptisms could take place at the nearest available settlement. Mariéjol sees the source of this new declaration in the Protestant episode of the queen of Navarre at Mâcon. Le Roux argues this measure was intended to avoid disturbances interfering with the royal travels around the kingdom. The entry into Lyon was a triumphal one. First the king, then Orléans then the prince de Béarn entered the city the latter dressed in elaborate fabrics. This pageantry was to the distaste of the queen of Navarre, as was the recent recognition by Béarn's brother, the prince de Condé, of his bastard son by the dame de Limeuil. According to the contemporary Protestant memoirist Michel de Castelnau, proposals were made to the queen mother while the court was in Lyon to resume the war against Protestantism such that the whole kingdom might be brought into the Catholic fold. Catherine promised not to depart Lyon without leaving royal soldiers in the city. Jeanne feared for her sons soul in such an 'adulterous environment'. While in Lyon the king's sister, Marguerite, informed the Spanish ambassador Álava that she had rooted through her brother (Orléans)' things, and found no hint of heretical inclinations. The court was greeted by pairs of children, one Catholic one Protestant in each pair, marching in procession. The various Italian communities of the city also took part in the parade. With Protestant worship prohibited in buildings, Jeanne took her son to an open air Protestant service in protest. However, her influence over her son was fading, and she was sequestered. The dames d'honneur were prohibited from frequenting her apartments, out of fear she might convert them to Protestantism. Meanwhile, the young prince de Béarn was presented to the royal ambassadors as the premier prince du sang (first prince of the royal blood - closest agnatic relative to the royal family). Further diplomatic undertakings at the city transpired in relation to the peace that had been concluded in Troyes in April. Both Charles IX, and the extraordinary English ambassador swore to the peace on 24 June. This English ambassador, the baron Hunsdon had presented Charles IX with the collar of the order of the garter on 23 June, in a ceremony presided over by the constable de Montmorency. Finally, on 30 June, the duke of Savoy visited Lyon with his wife, Catherine's sister-in-law Marguerite. This couple had been received by the French crown at Miribel, a little way out from Lyon. While this meeting was an emotional moment for Catherine, she nevertheless rebuffed Savoy's attempt to see Pinerolo and Savigliano restored to his possession. Savoy was to content himself with being granted the captaincy of 50 men-at-arms. The baron des Adrets visited Lyon so that he might defend Protestant places of worship.

The plague was active in Lyon, and thus the court withdrew from the city early, departing for the nearby place of Crémieu on 8 July. In the edict of Crémieu, issued on 12 July, Charles made it law that the elections of échevins, mayors and jurats would now be undertaken in duplicate, so that the king himself might select the most suitable ones from the electoral list. Pernot points to this edict as an illustration of how well understood it was by the royal council that the factions of the kingdom looked to gain municipal control. Here, Jeanne requested of Catherine the right to withdraw from the court to her lands with the prince de Béarn. Catherine refused this proposition, and indeed the prospect of her withdrawing to Béarn. Rather she was to depart for Vendôme. This bitter result was softened by the granting of a 150,000 livres gratuity to the queen.

The court followed the course of the Rhône. From Crémieu the court went first to Roussillon, arriving on 17 July. Here, it was ordered that the citadel be rebuilt, and a garrison of 400 men installed. The maréchal de Vielleville was replaced in his charge at Lyon by a certain Catholic ultra named de Losses. Around this time, a panic spread among the Protestants, that the French crown intended an attack against Geneva. Against this rumour, a letter from France counselled Geneva to raise Swiss soldiers. German landsknechts were also recruited, in the hopes they would intimidate Catherine. The court lingered in Roussillon for thirty days, staying in the residence erected by the cardinal de Tournon. It was while here, on 9 August, that Charles signed an ordinance moving the start of the year from Easter to 1 January, as well as other elements complimenting the edict of January 1564 that had been issued before the royal departure on tour. In addition to this amendment Finally, they departed, on 15 August.

The seigneur de Lanssac, who had been with the royal party, but departed for Guyenne, wrote to the queen mother on the state of affairs he had observed in his travels on 28 July. He painted a sorry picture of the areas he had made his passage through, but urged Catherine to continue with the royal tour of the kingdom.

Leaving Roussillon, the court made for Provence. First they visited the town of Romans, but stayed only six days as the party was stalked by the plague they had first encountered in Lyon.

From here to Valence, where the royal party was greeted with a mythological display in which Catherine was compared to Minerva. While in Valence, on 5 September, the court received a petition from the Protestants of Bordeaux, protesting at their treatment contrary to the edict of Amboise. They wished to no longer be obliged to involve their houses in Catholic religious processions, and to not have to swear on the arms of Saint Anthony in court. Their pleas were answered in the form of royal letters patent, with the seigneur de Monluc, and seigneur de Burie ordered to put things right. Then Montélimar on 14 September, Donzère on 21 September, Orange on 22 September and Avignon the day after. The constable de Montmorency preceded the royal party into Avignon. In the old Papal city, Charles was greeted by the Pope's nephew, Fabrizio Serbelloni, and they bore witness to various displays illustrating the virtues. On 25 September, gifts were granted to both the king and his brother the duc d'Orléans. Here, the chapter meeting of the Order of Saint-Michel, the highest order of French chivalry was held, in the presence of the duke of Savoy, the duke of Ferrara, and the duc de Lorraine. Catherine enjoyed an interview with the Papal Legate here. A deal was also reached with the Papacy, by which Charles would take the Protestants of the Papal territories under his protection, these Protestants would have rights to their lands, be restored to their property, relations would be restored with the principality of Orange, and the principality of Orange would cease their invasions of Papal territory. In royal council, the constable de Montmorency got into a spat with the comte de Crussol who suggested that the 'ancient religion' was Protestantism, and that Catholicism was a false innovation. This enraged Montmorency, who demanded Crussol leave the council.

While the court was in Provence, the constable de Montmorency angled to see Protestant preaching outlawed. He argued that the king was Catholic, and therefore his subjects should be likewise. His suggestion was not taken up on by the court. The son of the constable, the seigneur de Méru was sent to the Spanish court in October, so that he might offer the complements of the French crown to Philip II.

Come 16 October, the court was to be found in Salon-de-Provence which had been devastated by the plague. Here they met with the famous astrologer Nostradamus who regailed them with his predictions, including one in which Charles IX was to live to the age of the constable de Montmorency. Charles IX would die at 24, Montmorency at 75. From Salon to Aix which had a reputation for particular anti-Protestantism. Before the city, Charles was greeted by the men of the cour des comptes, the first président of which gave the king's thigh a customary kiss. Entering the city, the king was greeted with cries of 'Long live the king! Long live the Mass!'. The cities reputation for virulent anti-Protestantism had lead to the suspension of their parlement. That suspension was now lifted. The Parisian parlementaires who had been injected into the cities parlement to replace the ultra Catholics were undertaking the prosecution of those Catholics who had perpetrated massacres. Those parlementaires who had persecuted the Protestants were dismissed from their offices. In addition to the lifting of this penalty, a bi-confessional chamber was established to handle disputes between Protestants and Catholics. A lit de justice session was held before the parlement. The next stops were Saint-Maximin and Sainte-Baume, Brignolles and Cuers. On 30 October the court arrived at Hyères. A small group departed from the royal party to see Bregançon and the court celebrated All Saints-Day in the city. The court moved next to Toulon, where they arrived on 3 November. At Toulon, the marquis d'Elbeuf took the young king on his galleys. On 6 November, the court arrived in Marseille, having passed through Ollioules and La Cadiére on route, In the Spanish ambassador's estimation, Marseille was a fervently Catholic city. For his own amusement, king Charles threw the prince de Béarn's cap into the cathedral to force him to cross the threshold so that he might retrieve it. This was a joke that the king often returned to with the Protestant prince. Charles resolved that he wished to visit the château d'If (on the Île d'If in the harbour of Marseille), which had been constructed during the reign of his grandfather. Winds picked up and the court was unable to make a landing at If. Charles therefore lunched on the galley, while his brother the duc d'Orléans was overcome with sea sickness. The princes, dressed as 'Turks', prepared to join a mock naval battle between two squadrons of galleys. The galley they were attacking was one of Malta. This scandalised Álava, who was further put out by a 'Moorish ballet' a few days later, in which Charles' sister Marguerite dressed as 'a Turk'. These displays were a 'clear illustration' of the strength of the Franco-Ottoman alliance, and a challenge to Spanish power in the Mediterranean.

At Martigues, the king admired the lush herbs of the Camargue. Due to a flood of the Rhône the court was forced to stay in Arles for 21 days, from 16 November to 7 December. While there, the court witnesses a bullfight. With the king enjoying pleasant trivialities, Catherine and L'Hôpital looked to secure acceptance for the edict of Amboise from the estates of Languedoc.

Finally able to depart Arles, the court arrived in Tarascon on 7 December. Here an agreement between the Protestants and Catholics was forged by which Protestantism would be tolerated in the Cévennes and they would conduct their burials and baptisms in Provence during the nights. Contrasting welcomes are found by the court in the Protestant cities of Beaucaire and Nîmes. In the former place, Catherine was heckled from the walls, and made sure not to stay long, preferring the residence of the comte de Crussol for their lodgings. In the latter the court received an eager welcome, with impressive mechanical elements to the king's entry including an opening mountain and a mechanical crocodile. Protestants made known their grievances about the governor of Languedoc the seigneur de Damville, who they charged with exactions. The historian Chevallier credits the seigneur de Damville with having maintained order in Nîmes for the king's visit. Charles IX entrusted Renaud de Beaune with examining this. On 17 December, the court arrived in Montpellier, having travelled via Aigues-Mortes. Montpellier had been chosen as the city to winter in, due to the fact that Narbonne had been made inaccessible by the weather. Montpellier had been a Protestant city before its Catholic reconquest in 1563, the Catholics came out bearing palm fronds for the royal entry. During the court's time in Montpellier, the Spanish ambassador Álava protested concerning the reinforcements Condé was instituting in his government of Picardy. The court celebrated Christmas in the city. Come 26 December, a mandatory Catholic procession transpired for Saint Stephen's day, with pain of fine for non-attendance. The royal family all participated, dressed in finery.

As the court made its way from Montpellier to Aged, the duc d'Orléans lost his baggage.

The court spent a day in Béziers on 3 January 1565. The city was thoroughly Protestant, and thus the court little desired to spend a long time in the place. Here two tableau were presented that were designed to be provocative to the court, one featuring a woodland scene in which Diana was pursued by Satyrs, evocative of Catherine's husband's mistress Diane, the other showing the capture of the town by the Protestants, something the tour was intending to cast from memory. The court quickly moved on to Narbonne, which they arrived at the following day.

The deep winter impeded their continued progress, with the snow so high that the king could not enter the lower town of Carcassonne upon his arrival in front of the city for ten days, and he was forced to bivouac. Finally, the snows melted, and Charles entered the city under a canopy, followed by the duc d'Orléans and the prince de Béarn. The court tarried in Carcassonne where the princes enjoyed a mock battle fought with snowballs. After Carcassonne came the château de Ferrals, where the seigneur de Ferrals (future French ambassador to Rome) surprised the king by opening the ceiling above his head to a sprinkle of almonds and perfumed water. At Castelnaudary, where they arrived on 28 January, the court bore witness to the local dance, the Martingale. They then departed on 30 January.

The court made their entry into Toulouse on 1 February. Charles was greeted by the capitouls of the city who were kneeling. The capitouls delivered a speech in which they implored the king to protect the liberties of their city as had his forebears. They then presented him the keys to the city. Temporary archers had been raised for the occasion, giving the entry the appearance of a Roman triumph. Various other displays glorified the monarchy and denounced both aristocratic and democratic subversion against the state. The court would spend the next 45 days in the city. The day after their arrival, Charles and the young prince de Béarn made their way to the cathedral of Toulouse. Charles invited the prince de Béarn to enter with him, but the young Protestant refused. Charles repeated his joke from earlier in the tour, tossing the princes hat over the threshold. A follower of Béarns' crossed the door to pick it up. The seigneur de Monluc joined with the court while it was in Toulouse. He brought with him an escort of 1,200 Gascon gentleman seeking payment for their actions in defence of Catholicism. This was to the displeasure of Catherine, it having been forbidden during the royal tour for men-at-arms to gather for any reason. Nevertheless, Catherine did not object too severely, seeing that Monluc would ensure the courts safety while they were in Guyenne. On the grounds of difficulty of provision of foodstuff and housing, Monluc and his men-at-arms were sent away from Toulouse. The Gascon party obeyed this request. This sour development for Monluc was sweetened by the admission of the seigneur into the conseil privé (privy council). Though she had lessened the blow that had been delivered, Catherine remained conscious of Monluc's brutal reputation. Therefore, when the need to punish wrongdoers in Sainte-Foy and Bergerac arose, she entrusted the responsibility of handling the affair to another. It was while the court was in Toulouse that Catherine received word from Philip II that an interview would be granted with her daughter, the queen of Spain at Bayonne. The seigneur de La Mothe-Fénelon, who had brought the news from Spain, was entrusted with offering Catherine's gratitude to the Spanish king for affording this opportunity. Word also arrived of the disorders that were troubling Paris, with the admiral de Coligny having brought 600 horsemen to the city. In the light of this news, the Protestant Toulousian petition requesting the right to worship in the city was dismissed by the crown. This severity was, in the view of Cloulas, a performance for the Spanish ambassador. Hoping that he would report back to Philip this tough action, and maybe join his wife in Bayonne. While in the capital of Languedoc on 5 February, Charles held a lit de justice before the parlement of the city, which was attended by the prince de Béarn. In this session radical Catholicism was denounced and the pacification edict reaffirmed, much to the annoyance of the seigneur de Damville, governor of Languedoc. At the basilica of Saint-Sernin in the city, the cardinal d'Armagnac oversaw the confirmation (rite of initiation into the Catholic church) of the duc d'Orléans and Évreux on 17 March. At this time they abandoned their birth names (Alexandre-Édouard and Hercule respectively) for Henri and François, names that invoked the Valois-Angoulême kings of the early part of the century. Orléan's abandonment of the name of his godfather, the Protestant king Edward of England was to the great pleasure of the Spanish ambassador after it was explained to him by Catherine that the reason for the abandonment of the name was to distance the prince from Protestant heresy. Meanwhile, the English ambassador, Thomas Smith, who was also on the tour was scandalised. He noted that on one day, he had been being fed honeyed words of French friendship, then the next he had been slapped with this insult. He protested on this to Álava, noting that he had quickly appraised the queen of England, Elizabeth, of what had transpired. In addition to these rites, the education of the young princes would also be taken stock of while the court was in Toulouse under the auspices of a certain de Selve. Catherine looked to open marriage negotiations for the duc d'Orléans with queen Elizabeth I at this time, in the hopes of inspiring in the Spanish king a fear of a Franco-English alliance. Marriage negotiations were also on the mind of the Scottish ambassador as related to Mary, Queen of Scots. He reached out to Álava to discuss the situation. He noted that Elizabeth would not permit Mary to marry without her blessing, but that Mary had received proposals from German princes and also Catherine on behalf of the duc d'Orléans. The Scottish ambassador wished to pick up these negotiations, but wanted to ensure the Spanish were in the loop. On 19 March, the court made its departure from Toulouse.

The court now entered Guyenne, a province over which the young prince de Béarn was governor. Béarn thus preceded the court into the cities by a day, so that he might welcome Charles upon his entrance. The French court visited Montauban and on 20 March, the consuls of Montauban handed over the keys of the city, thereby allowing Catholic worship, which had been prohibited, to occur there again. Miquel characterises the royal entrance into Montauban as a 'submission', with the artillery and iron chain that crossed the street removed, in addition to the fort des Jacobins having been destroyed prior to the royal entry. The city was decorated with biblical scenes for the court's entrance, including the stories of Solomon and Josiah, to whom Charles was compared. In return for their submissive attitude, the city secured the rights for premises in which Protestants might worship. Charles attempted to see the bishop of Montauban return to residence in his city. He indeed returned, but it was a brief return, the bishop little inclined to stay in light of the 'populations hostility towards the clergy'. The city was virulently Protestant, and the sound of psalm singing encouraged the court on its way. With a couple of days spent in Montauban, the court took to the river and made their way to Agen, leaving their boats a little upstream of the city, and making their entry via land. On 23 March, the royal party made their entry into Agen was in a state of penury as a result of plague and floods they had suffered. To ensure that the royal entrance to this city could be appropriate for the royal dignity, the seigneur de Monluc leant the city 4,000 livres. Though a much poorer and smaller city than some of the great cities of the kingdom like Lyon, the people of Agen took every effort they could for the welcome of the court. The king and court were in Agen for several days, and during this time the feast of the Annunciation was celebrated by the touching of those with scrofula. Charles took the opportunity of being in a Catholic city to toss some bundles of Protestant literature into the Garonne. Charles visited the church of Saint-Étienne with Catherine and carried the new-born daughter of the seigneur de Monluc to the baptismal font. While in the city, Wanegffelen argues Catherine resecured the loyalty of the seigneur de Monluc away from any allegiance towards the Spanish camp. Departing Agen on 27 March and again following the Garonne downstream, the court making their entry into Bordeaux on 9 April. The constable de Montmorency was too ill to take up his position in the entry, and so had to be replaced by the seigneur de Boissy for the occasion. Notably, Catherine and Charles had already spent several days in the city incognito. The entrance into Bordeaux was a symphony of nations, with the procession featuring horsemen disguised in costumes of Asia, Africa and the New World.

Monluc was able to place himself at the side of the king, his fellow lieutenant-général for Guyenne, the seigneur de Burie, being sick. Upon the death of the seigneur de Burie a little while later, the seigneur de Monluc was established as the vice-admiral of Guyenne. It was by virtue of these two offices he held that he would accompany the court for the Bayonne conference.

While the court spent time in Bordeaux, Catherine resolved upon the list of courtiers who would participate alongside her at the meeting with the Spanish at Bayonne. As they had in Toulouse, Dijon and Aix, a lit de justice was held in the parlement of Bordeaux on 12 April. Here, L'Hôpital excoriated the conseillers for their disobedience and corruption. The power of Charles and Catherine was to be absolute, and the peace of Amboise abided by. He reminded them that their wisdom was less than that of the king, the queen mother, and the royal council. Easter had come around again, and Charles and Catherine repeated the public piety they had demonstrated in Troyes the year previous. They frequented around a dozen churches over the holy week, taking communion in the cathedral of Saint-André on Easter itself. Montmorency, for his part, oversaw the kidnapping of a child baptised as a Protestant, so that they might be re-baptised a Catholic. Brantôme records Montmorency as having a brutal disregard for the bourgeois of Bordeaux. He states that when the captain de Strozzi requested a source of firewood off him, so that his men might have heating, he requisitioned a 300 tonnes boat of the people of Bordeaux to serve as the fuel. Remonstrated with by the jurats, he threatened them by suggesting they were lucky it was not their houses he was taking as firewood.

The Spanish ambassador reported on an episode that transpired in Bordeaux. The king, keen to practice his dance before the interview of Bayonne had taken to practice privately. The seigneur de Méru had inveigled himself into witnessing this practice, hiding himself behind a curtain. Méru was uncovered, and chased out by Charles who was furious. Méru believed he had been betrayed by the young duc de Guise, and went to locate him. Guise was liaising with the duc d'Orléans at this time. Méru opined that if anyone other than the king had chased him in that way, he would have stabbed them in the chest. Orléans rejoindered that if he had caught Méru in that situation, he would have had him defenestrated. Champion sees this episode as revealing of Orléans' character, prone to extreme emotional outbursts. Chevallier sees in this little tale, the keen attentions the ambassadors were paying to any little incident at the court.

The court was plagued by rain during its stay in Bordeaux. They made their departure on 3 May.

At Bazas, on 5 May, the court watched a bullfight. They then paused for several weeks in Mont-de-Marsan when the rumour spread that Catherine's daughter, the queen of Spain, would not be coming to Bayonne for the interview. This stasis concluded on 24 May, four days later the court entered Dax.

As the court progressed through the south-west of the kingdom, Charles was struck by the number of destroyed church and châteaux he encountered.

On 3 June, Charles IX arrived in Bayonne for the interview.

Bayonne

The first talk of a meeting between the French and Spanish sovereigns had emerged in ambassadorial correspondence in the months after the signing of the treaty of Cateau-Cambrésis in 1559. The queen mother, Catherine, took up the baton of this idea first in 1560, when she began to press for it with some insistence. On 28 July 1560, the prospect featured in a letter she wrote to the French ambassador in Spain, the bishop of Limoges. In this correspondence she alluded to prior conversations on the matter, but noted that present circumstances meant that she desired a delay in the meeting.

As early as April 1561, Catherine had floated to her daughter, Élisabeth, the queen of Spain, the possibility of an interview between the French and Spanish crowns. Élisabeth had been married to the Spanish sovereign as a term of the treaty of Cateau-Cambrésis that sealed the peace and friendship between the two nations in 1559. This proposal advanced further in January of 1564. The prospect of an interview was not rejected out of hand by Philip, but neither was it immediately agreed to. Before granting such an interview, Philip wished to know the matters that would be discussed at such a meeting.

The seigneur de Monluc was also keen to see a meeting between Catherine and the Spanish sovereign come to pass. For him, it was an opportunity for the two crowns to unite their struggle against Protestantism and ensure peace between the kingdoms. To this end, he undertook discussions with Spanish ministers, wrote a long memoir concerning the state of France and received an embassy from the duke of Alba. He emphasised that Catherine had undertaken the Grand Tour of the kingdom to illustrate the seriousness of the courts Catholicity, and to disarm the Protestant places, as had been done at Lyon. Philip II must encourage this approach from the crown. Despite this important role, he would not mention these events in his own memoires, out of fear it might prove compromising.

It was while the court was in Toulouse in early 1565, that Catherine received news from her ambassador in Spain, the seigneur de Saint-Sulpice that Philip had consented to the prospect of an interview. This would be either with himself, or if he could not make it, his wife, the queen of Spain, Élisabeth, Catherine's daughter.

To Philip II's considerable distaste it was announced that the queen of Navarre and the Ottoman ambassador would be present for the meeting at Bayonne. The Ottoman ambassador was interested in gaining access to the French ports of Marseille and Toulon for the Ottoman fleet to winter. This would serve as a spring board for a spring campaign against the Spanish. Catherine intended by the proximity of the latter to indicate to Philip that were she so inclined, she might frustrate his control of the Mediterranean. Philip mandated that no figures associated with 'heresy' be present at Bayonne. Suspicious of Catherine, and little desirous to commit himself to anything, he sent in his stead his wife Élisabeth (Catherine's daughter and the sister of Charles) Juan Manrique de Lara and the duke of Alba. Catherine maintained hope that Philip would come to the meeting to the last moment, still imagining the possibility on 30 May.

On 30 May, Catherine arrived in Bayonne in disguise, so that she might appraise herself of the progress of the preparations. She liaised with Álava to gauge when Élisabeth would arrive, and how her daughter was doing. The court progressed towards Bayonne, where the royal interview with the queen of Spain was to transpire. The court arrived in Bayonne on 3 June 1565. The duc d'Orléans was granted permission to enter Spain by Catherine, to rendezvous with his elder sister. Protocol meant that neither Catherine nor Charles could head into Spain for this. He departed Bayonne on 9 June to effect this juncture, riding with 125 horsemen he met with her in Hernani. He had brought with him a friend of Élisabeth's, the comtesse de Tende, Claire Strozzi. Also with him were many great nobles of the court: the dauphin d'Auvergne, the young duc de Guise, the duc de Longueville, and the constable de Montmorency's three younger sons (Méru, Thoré and Damville). Élisabeth was very happy to see Claire, and the two spoke for much time. They lunched together, and then Orléans announced it was time to take to the road. Élisabeth demurred on grounds of tiredness, so they postponed their departure. On 14 June, Élisabeth crossed the Franco-Spanish border at Hendaye, she was in good spirits at the thought of meeting her mother and siblings. Catherine, the princesse de La Roche-sur-Yon, the cardinals de Guise and de Strozzi and the maréchal de Strozzi crossed the river Bidasoa to meet her. Élisabeth fell to her knees before her mother, who raised her up. A pontoon was then laid across the river so that she might greet her brother, Charles on the other bank. Upon reaching Saint-Jean-de-Luz the royal family dined as one, with Élisabeth seated on Catherine's right, an honour that caused her to blush. They spent the night in this place, before continuing the next day. For the entry of Élisabeth to Bayonne, which transpired on 15 June, the prince de Béarn, who had been absent for the reception of Élisabeth (likely at the request of Philip II), enjoyed a position in the front row. This had been surrendered to him by his uncle, the cardinal de Bourbon. The queen made her entrance on a horse with a harness that Chevallier values at 400,000 ducats, a gift to her from her husband Philip. Catherine was disappointed by the absence of Philip II. The queen of Spain was put up in a wooden palace which had been constructed for the occasion. Through a gallery this wooden palace connected with the bishop's palace, in which Catherine and Charles were to be found. Jousts and comedies were paired to the negotiations with the duke of Alba that were undertaken at Bayonne by Catherine and Charles. A combat took place between 'Bretons', fighting for virtue, and 'Irish' fighting for love. Charles took the head of the Bretons, and the duc d'Orléans at the head of the Irish. After three hours of combat, love and virtue were reconciled to much enthusiasm. The various festivities featured both Protestant and Catholic members of the French nobility, in the hopes that this might illustrate the unity of the kingdom of France. In the combats, various costumes were adopted by the nobles, including Spanish, Moorish, and Egyptian. In the mock combats, the duc d'Orléans defeated a giant guarding a castle. In the hopes of illustrating the grandeur of the French court, Catherine surrounded herself with ostentatiously dressed ladies of the court. One of the outfits of these women was of gold cloth.

In the negotiations themselves, which began on 15 June, Alba looked to see Catherine abandon her policy of toleration towards Protestantism, and join in persecution, hand in hand with the Spanish crowns policy to that effect. He had received instructions from Philip to push against French plans for a new colonial effort to be made to Florida, the ships of which were due to depart from Dieppe. To his anti-Protestant goal, Catherine was to give Protestant ministers a month to depart the kingdom (on pain of death if they returned), eliminate toleration of the Protestant faith in France, and remove all Protestant office holders from their charges. The Spanish duke also pushed for the murder of the admiral de Coligny. The queen mother inquired of Alba how she was meant to implement such a policy, to which Alba rejoindered that she would know this better than he. Catherine argued contrary to Alba that the edict of Amboise itself succeeded in halting Protestantism. Neither side cared to listen to the view of the other. Through the talks, Catherine did her best to avoid answering Alba's embarrassing questions, and the Spanish duke obtained no firm committments. Catherine was more hopeful of negotiating marital projects: in particular that of the Spanish prince don Carlos with her daughter Marguerite; and the duc d'Orléans with Philip II's sister Joanna. She hoped to see Orléans afforded the territory of Milan or Tuscany by such a marriage. Tuscany was not a Spanish territory, but the current duke of Florence could be dispossessed of the land for the marriage. Alba did not even discuss these marriage proposals with Catherine. When she spoke of the proposals with her daughter Élisabeth, the queen of Spain shot down the notion of Marguerite marrying don Carlos, and suggested that a marriage between Orléans and Joanna would not involve any territorial dowry.

On 21 June, Corpus Christi was celebrated with a procession and the induction of Charles IX into the Habsburg Order of the Golden Fleece, the duke of Alba having brought the necklace with him. An elaborate banquet was enjoyed on 23 June at which all were dressed as shepherds, and groups representing the various provinces of France played a role with their local dances and instruments. The evening was cut short by a storm. On 25 June, a tournament transpired which pitted Charles IX against the duc d'Orléans, the former as the champion of virtue, the latter as the champion of love. Three hours of combats followed, with jousts. When at the end, virtue and love were reconciled with one another, an artillery salvo fired. Alba and Élisabeth little allowed themselves to be distracted from their purpose by this extravagant opulence. They wanted a commitment from Catherine to deal with the religious question. Catherine remained elusive, promising only to gather a council to examine the Tridentine proposals, particularly those that effected the prerogatives of the French crown and church. As for 'punishing the rebels [Protestants]' that was out of the question, to do so would restart the civil war.

On 30 June, Charles presided over a grand council. Present for the occasion were Catherine, Élisabeth, the duc d'Orléans, the duke of Alba, the constable de Montmorency, the duc de Montpensier, the cardinals de Bourbon and de Guise, the maréchal de Bourdillon, and the former Spanish ambassador to France don Juan Manrique de Lara. The constable de Montmorency explained and justified the current religious policy of toleration, raising the spectre of civil war were it to be abandoned. Montmorency noted that, if the Protestants did cause trouble, the king would know how to deal with them. Catherine promised her daughter that she would 'remedy' religious matters once the royal tour was complete. Philip would interpret this agreement as being with the proposed policy Alba had advocated for, noting that it was a satisfactory thing for his wife to hear.

What Catherine meant by 'remedy' was ambiguous. The Venetian ambassador interpreted it as simply an agreement to receive the Tridentine decrees. Pernot argues her religious policy remained entirely unchanged by the meeting.

The talks concluded on 2 July. The Spanish then left, little believing what Catherine had promised them. The Spanish left the French at Saint-Jean-de-Luz, with Charles tearfully parting ways from his elder sister here. Montmorency chastised the king, noting that a monarch must not cry, lest it be seen by foreigners or his subjects. Catherine accompanied her daughter further, to Irun, and the duc d'Orléans further still, going fifteen leagues into Spain to Segura before leaving Élisabeth to link back up with the French court. Orléans returned to Saint-Jean-de-Luz where Charles was distracting himself from the sadness of Élisabeth's departure with whale hunting and dancing. At Saint-Jean-de-Luz, the constable de Montmorency got into a dispute over accomodation with the duc de Montpensier that resulted in the collapse of relations between the two men.

Philip II would reject the prospect of a marriage between Joanna and the duc d'Orléans. Nevertheless, Catherine kept at her marriage proposals, continuing to broach them in correspondence with Philip. Catherine, in a letter to the maréchal de Montmorency, reported that the meeting had only broached light matters, such as the maintenance of good relations between the two kingdoms, peace in the kingdom, the enjoyment of good food, and other pleasantries. Reports of the meeting were sent out by the court to the Italian states of Venice and Florence, to the Holy Roman Emperor, and to the Protestant princes of the Empire.

The Protestants interpreted the Bayonne conference dimly, as the origin point of a plot to jointly exterminate both them and their Dutch compatriots. This fearful panicking was not limited to French Protestants but also those abroad in England and the Holy Roman Empire. The English statesman, William Cecil imagined the nucleus of a Catholic crusade against the Protestant faith had been germinated at Bayonne. It was indeed true that the duc de Montpensier's confessor had proposed to the duke of Alba that Condé, Coligny, d'Andelot, and La Rochefoucauld's heads all be cut off. This was in accordance with Alba's own ambitions, for the five or six principal Protestant leaders to be decapitated. Nevertheless, Chevallier finds no evidence Catherine agreed to either a plan of extermination, or even a plan to restrict toleration more harshly. The shadowy hand of an international Catholic conspiracy extended from the Spanish crown, to Pope Pius IV, to the queen of Scots and even the Catholics of the kingdom of England. The historian Solnon pours cold water on these suspicions, arguing that Catherine agreed to nothing during the meeting. Sournia dismisses the Bayonne conference as accomplishing nothing. Crété finds Catherine to be responsible for the civil war that followed Bayonne, due to her continual 'deceit' meaning the Protestants could not trust her assurances about the conference.

More tour

From Saint-Jean-de-Luz, the court made for Biarritz on 11 July. The tour swung by Bidache and was received by the comte de Gramont. Due to the extreme heat, with sunstroke a great problem, they often travelled by night while traversing Béarn.

The court now doubled back on its earlier progress, visiting first Dax on 14 July and then Mont-de-Marsan for a second time four days later. While the court tarried in Mont-de-Marsan, a rumour spread of an association the associates of the Lorraine-Guise family had manufactured that was aimed towards the ruin of the Montmorency. Catherine had little patience for the formation of leagues, and moved to receive a declaration from the gentlemen endorsing the ban on leagues. Sournia characterises this declaration as a counter-league to maintain balance in the royal court through the protection of the Montmorency. The constable himself was not at Mont-de-Marsan and could thus not drive endorsements of the project. Alongside Catherine's signature on this document was that of the seigneur de Monluc. These signatures were viewed with suspicion by the Protestants. In a further development at Mont-de-Marsan, it was here that Swiss representatives united with the royal party, to renew their alliance with the French crown.

With the Spanish gone, Catherine could afford a greater liberality towards the queen of Navarre. The latter figure was permitted to return to Nérac, the capital of her duché d'Albret. Catherine hoped to go Nérac herself. Charles travelled to Montréal in the hopes of soothing the unrest in the place. On 27 July the court was in Condom.

The next day, the court arrived at the Albret capital of Nérac, thereby uniting with the queen of Navarre for the second time in the tour's progress. To avoid having to meet with the queen of Navarre, the Spanish ambassador Álava went instead to Bordeaux and then to Cognac where he would link back up with the court. In the meeting at Nérac, which lasted from 28 to 31 July, Catherine worked to gain a greater tolerance for Catholicism in the queen's lands. Chevallier notes that for Jeanne, toleration of Catholicism was to tolerate idolatry. Jeanne could not be moved in regards to Béarn, but for Nérac, where the laws of the French kingdom applied, she made concessions concerning Catholic worship. Jeanne secured the rights to take her son from the court for a time. Sournia suspects the two would have discussed the seigneur de Monluc, who, in his capacity as the lieutenant-général of Guyenne was a considerable thorn in the side of the queen of Navarre by his clamping down on Protestant proselytising. For this same reason, Monluc was an asset to Catherine.

United with her son, Jeanne introduced him to the militant Protestants: first among them the young boys' uncle, the Protestant prince de Condé, who she hoped to see redeemed after he had fallen into error. In Cognac, the mother and son met with a general staff of Protestants. After touring some of the families estates, they reunited with the court at Blois.

The seigneur de Lanssac headed out in front of the French court to La Rochelle at the start of August. There he assembled the notables of the place and begged them to abide by the edict of Amboise and clamp down on the defiance of the edict in the city. In La Rochelle, the Catholic clergy was regularly attacked by the Protestants. Lanssac highlighted the great love Catherine and Charles had for La Rochelle, and their desire to see Catholics and Protestants at peace in the city. The clerics of La Rochelle were to be moderate in their sermons, and not preach invective towards the other faith.

The river Garonne was crossed at Tonneins on 2 August by the court. The court crossed into Saintonge, passing through Périgord as it made its way north. They arrived in Angoulême on 14 August. Though a fairly Protestant city, the governor the seigneur de Lanssac had compelled the people to go out and greet the king with banners and crosses. The seigneur de Lanssac was also entrusted with a more general responsibility for ensuring the security of the royal party during their stay in Saintonge. This would be accomplished, and the court was untroubled while in the province. The king entered the city of Angoulême prepared for confrontation, as he had been warned to anticipate a repeat of the conspiracy of Amboise. While the king was in Angoulême, he was beseeched by the Protestants who complained of the violence they remained subject to. The king paid respects here at the tomb of his great-great-grandfather, the comte d'Angoulême, who, during the first civil war in 1562, had the head, hands and feet of his corpse cut off by the Protestants. Charles flew into a rage at the deed. Protestants arrived in Angoulême from Champagne to protest against the troop levies being made in the latter province by the cardinal de Lorraine, the leagues that existed to frustrate them, and the anti-Protestant biases of the local administration. From Angoulême, the river Charente was crossed by boat before arriving in Jarnac on 21 August, where they were hosted by the baron de Jarnac, a Protestant and the governor of La Rochelle. The seigneur de Lanssac was entrusted with securing an oath of loyalty from the baron de Jarnac. He expressed his confidence in the edict of Amboise. The baron was rewarded by the crown by being made a knight of the Ordre de Saint-Michel. After Jarnac, the Charente was again crossed so that the court might visit Cognac. The court would spend eleven days in this city. Catherine reminisced fondly on the court's time in Cognac that the weather was very fine, and that Protestants and Catholics had danced together.

On 25 August, from Cognac, Charles issued a directive to all the parlements of the kingdom by which he demanded they all comply with the edict of Orléans and mete out punishment on any who might suggest that it was no longer in force. The edict of Orléans supported the coexistence of two faiths within the kingdom, and thus the French crown continued to show itself in favour of religious toleration.

From Cognac, the court entered Saintonge, where their presence gave confidence to the Catholic minority. In turn, Saintes, Marennes and Brouage were visited. In the latter place, a new port was being constructed. With the presence of the royal court in this deeply Protestant region, the Catholics felt confident enough to celebrate Mass. On 6 September, grown children were baptised in Marennes, their baptism having been delayed so greatly that they could request receipt of the sacrament from the presiding priest. Charles served as the children's godfather and they took the names Charles and Charlotte.

Arriving in La Rochelle on 14 September, the constable de Montmorency was conscious of the fiercely Protestant character of the city. Montmorency demanded that artillery be removed from the path the royal procession was to take, and further that there be no gunfire salutes. The Rochelais population resented these demands.

During the procession through the city, a silk cord was hung across the road in the king's path at the porte de Cougnes. This symbolic obstacle was intended to allow the mayor to present the gospels to the king so that he might swear on them to uphold the cities privileges. Interpreting this cord as a means to block the king, Montmorency cut it with his sword and demanded to know from the urban magistrates whether they intended to stop Charles from entering their city. Triumphal arches for the king celebrated the labours of Hercules. Charles IX refused to declare an oath of his respect for the cities privileges stating instead 'be faithful and loyal subjects and I will be a good king to you'. He was beseeched by Catholics who complained about their treatment. Charles thus urged the officers to more rigorously apply the edict of Amboise's terms, including urging the magistrates to ensure Mass was celebrated at all the cities churches. Several Protestant pastors were exiled from the city, in addition to the lieutenant-général of the city (who was too biased against Catholicism) and some bourgeois. The opinion of the Rochelais were hardened by this royal visit. No sooner had the royal party left La Rochelle than Protestant worship resumed in the city. Several months after the king's departure, the exiled pastors were welcomed back into the city.

The royal party entered Niort on 19 September, which heard its first mass in seven years with their arrival. It was announced that if the priests of Niort were endangered, the richest Protestants of the city would answer for it. While in Niort, Condé arrived at the court. He announced his marriage to the seventeen-year-old Protestant princess Françoise d'Orléans, a choice Catherine approved of. She therefore requests the marriage transpire at court, even though both parties were Protestant. For the occasion of the marriage, Protestants at the court would be permitted to conduct Protestant worship there, though it would have to be behind closed doors.

As the court made its progress through Poitou and Anjou various great seigneurs were visited. At Thouars, the court met with the vicomte de Thouars, who was married to a daughter of the constable de Montmorency. Montmorency could watch with satisfaction as his granddaughter, Charlotte-Catherine was brought to the baptismal font by king Charles and the queen mother Catherine. The seigneur de Boisy, whose family had served as the royal chambrier (chamberlain) received the court at Oizon. The Brézé family, which had served as the royal grand huntsmen at Brézé. At Champigny-sur-Veurde, the court met with the duc de Montpensier, governor of Touraine and Anjou. Montpensier was a militant Catholic who inspired the enthusiasm of the Spanish ambassador Álava. Montpensier's brother, the prince de La Roche-sur-Yon hoped to feast the court at the château de Beaupréau on 8 October. He was very sick however, and Charles declined the meal he offered. The prince died the day after Charles visited him, on 9 October.

From Anjou, the court entered Brittany. This province had several great Protestant nobles, who had done much to spread their faith in the province. The seigneur d'Andelot had married the Breton heiress Claude de Rieux and worked to install Protestant ministers wherever he was in the province. Meanwhile, the vicomtesse de Rohan, Isabelle had transformed her château de Blain into a Protestant fortress.

Charles IX and the court spent a time in Nantes, arriving in the city on 12 October. In Blain, he met with the vicomte de Rohan. In a weakened state, Rohan was unable to prevent the crown from re-establishing Catholic worship in the town. At Châteaubriant, the constable de Montmorency possessed a castle, at which Charles would stay for 18 days. Festivities and hunts were held for the occasion of the king's visit. It was from here that he directed commissioners to re-establish Catholic worship in Blain, and looked to see the Protestants of Nantes granted a site for their worship. Catherine counselled the militantly Catholic governor of Brittany, the seigneur de Martigues towards religious moderation, having intercepted a letter he sent to the duc d'Aumale.

The court would not enter Rennes, due to a rivalry between the city and Nantes.

Upon the courts entry into Angers on 6 November, an échevin delivered a speech praising the virtues of Charles and Catherine. Chevallier describes their reception here as very cordial and generous. From here into Touraine where from 14 to 19 November, Catherine lodged at the Bourgueil Abbey. Having crossed the Loire, Charles frequented the château du Plessis-lès-Tours on 20 November. Langeais was also visited.

Moving on to the capital of Touraine, Tours, the court arrived here on 22 November. The various flourishing trades of the city and notables parade before the king. In addition to the various notables of the city, the court was greeted by the famed poet Pierre de Ronsard who was met with in the prior of Saint-Cosme, in a suburb of Tours.

In December 1565, the court briefly stopped at Catherine's residence of Chenonceaux for three days, where she played host to her children. From here to Amboise, the childhood home of the royal children, before heading to Blois where the court cooled its heels from 5 to 14 December. Here, the prince de Béarn and queen of Navarre returned to the court. The latter's arrival was the occasion of a scandal, due to the Protestant preaching she undertook in her apartments. Departing from Blois, the court made for Moulins, stopping at Saint Menuoux and Souvigny (which served as the equivalent of Saint-Denis for the old Bourbon capital) on route before arriving in Moulins shortly before Christmas on 22 December.

From 22 December to March 1566, the court was in Moulins. This was the occasion for an attempted reconciliation between the Lorraine-Guise family and the admiral de Coligny. To this end, the admiral de Coligny was summoned to come to the court, likewise the cardinal de Lorraine. The former arrived on 10 January, the latter the day after. The two men were lodged in the same hôtel on different floors. The maréchal de Montmorency, governor of Paris, was also summoned to make an appearance in relation to his involvement in the quarrel (dating back to the 1565 confrontation in Paris) by letter of 6 January. He was to come once he had assured himself of the tranquillity of Paris. In his absence from the capital, his younger brother the seigneur de Méru would care for the city. Charles assured the maréchal that the cardinal de Lorraine had assured him he entertained no designs against Montmorency, and was an obedient subject of the crown. In return, Charles asked that the maréchal neither to perpetrate any injury, nor order any injury be perpetrated, against the cardinal de Lorraine. The maréchal had considerable reluctance to reconcile with the cardinal de Lorraine, and had to be threatened with disinheritance by his father to make his peace. Charles gave an audience first to Coligny, and then one to the cardinal de Lorraine. Lorraine delivered an indictment of Coligny to the king. Appearing before the royal council, twenty-four councillors considered whether he was guilty of the crime of which he was accused. The premier président of the parlement of Paris found him guilty, nineteen of the other councillors found him innocent, and the duc de Montpensier, duc de Nemours and cardinal de Bourbon all sought to recuse themselves from involvement in the matter. On 12 January, Charles stated that both Coligny and the cardinal de Lorraine were henceforth responsible for the others wellbeing. Then, on 29 January, it was publicly declared that Coligny was found innocent of any involvement in Poltrot de Méré's assassination of the late duc de Guise. Both parties were enjoindered against causing one another any harm, or speaking ill of the other. With great reluctance, this reconciliation was signed to by the cardinal de Lorraine, dowager duchesse de Guise and the admiral de Coligny. At Catherine's request, two days later Coligny was embraced by Lorraine and they exchanged the kiss of peace. Notably not present for this reconciliation was the young Henri de Lorraine, duc de Guise, who had absented himself on a trip to Hungary to fight 'the Turks'.(figure out which are needed)

Beginning in January 1566, the cardinal de Lorraine's agent, a certain monsieur de Vertus, undertook negotiations for the cardinal at the Imperial diet of Augsburg. This would continue until May. Lorraine wanted to come to some form of arrangement with the Emperor and the Catholic princes of the Empire.

In addition to the reconciliation between Lorraine and Châtillon, the duc de Nevers held out his hand to the prince de Porcien. Porcien's presence had been expressly requested by the king at Moulins, with the monarch even requesting his mother permit Porcien to spend a few days in the capital, so that he might discuss affairs with his mother, the Françoise d'Amboise, Countess of Sennighien.

Another festering dispute, that of Françoise de Rohan and the duc de Nemours was also on the king's mind, and he looked to see his ambassador in Rome bring it to the Pope's attentions. This dispute had been appealed to the Pope by Françoise, after the archbishop of Lyon had ruled against her, and the king, all too conscious that it could be quite a time before the Pope rendered judgement, hoped to accelerate the judgement. Françoise's grievance concerned Nemours having made a promise of marriage to her, before instead marrying Anne d'Este. FranThis quarrel was a poisonous one for the king, as Françoise was a cousin of the Protestant queen of Navarre Jeanne d'Albret. Thus it soured relations between the Catholic Lorraine-Guise and the Protestant Bourbons. The Pope would annul the marriage of Françoise and Nemours, thereby allowing Nemours to marry Anne d'Este on 5 May 1566.

Having been sent a list of candidates for the position of consul of Nîmes by the governor of Languedoc, the baron de Damville, Charles informed him of his choices for the city while he was at Moulins in January.

During January 1566, L'Hôpital sent an edict to the Dijon parlement for their registration. This edict permitted Protestants in towns not allocated for Protestant worship in the edict of Amboise to import Protestant preachers for the education of their children. The Dijon parlement baulked, and they were backed up in the royal council by the cardinals de Bourbon and de Lorraine. At this time Catherine was unwell and thus absent from the council, and the king was occupied with hunting. L'Hôpital decried the opposition of Lorraine and Bourbon, to which Lorraine responded by calling him a rogue. Lorraine and Bourbon then went to find Catherine. Catherine soothed the tempers of the cardinal de Bourbon and Lorraine and dispatched the duc d'Orléans to take over the presidency of the council session. L'Hôpital's edict was struck. By siding against her chancellor in this matter, Catherine allowed herself the position of referee between the sides.(figure out which are needed)

Prohibitions on the carrying of firearms were also issued while the court resided at Moulins. On 23 November of 1566, the king wrote to the governors, renewing this prohibition through 1567.

While the court tarried in Moulins, an enlarged version of the royal council was assembled in the city. This contained the members of the royal council, the princes du sang, the great officers of the crown, and members of the parlements of the kingdom. For the parlements were the premier présidents of five of the kingdoms parlements (Paris, Bordeaux, Toulouse, Dijon and Grenoble). Also present was the second président of Paris and Aix. Indeed, this gathering is characterised by Cloulas and Pernot as an 'Assembly of Notables'. The purpose of this get together was to draft a legislative text, which L'Hôpital had already discussed at the various parlements during the lit de justices the court had been involved with on its travels. This meeting opened on 24 January. with speeches from the chancellor and king. It was noted by both that during the tour of the kingdom, the king had bore witness to many complaints from his subjects. To resolve this, the chancellor L'Hôpital oversaw the creation of this ordinance concerning the administration of justice. L'Hôpital expounded upon the poor administration of justice, with pointless judicial offices needing to be suppressed. He further mused whether it might be better for the parlements to receive their payment from the treasury rather than the plaintiffs in the trials they oversaw. L'Hôpital was keen to assert that interpretation of the law belonged solely in the hands of the prince, judicial bodies existed to verify the laws. Over the course of eighty-six articles, the king's supreme power was affirmed, and justice reshaped. Pernot describes it as picking up the baton of absolute government that had been carried by king Francis I and Henri II. Covered in the ordinance were the rights of the parlements to remonstrate (after the king had overruled their first remonstrance further remonstrating would not be permitted), the responsibilities of judges, the remits of governors (who had taken advantage of the recent civil war to overstep their prerogatives, and were now removed from matters of tax and law), regulations on hospitals, confraternities, residency requirements for priests, printing and blasphemy. The curtailing of the rights of the parlements to remonstrate would allow the crown to avoid a repeat of the bitter back and forth that had transpired between the court and king over the Edict of Saint-Germain in 1562. To ensure the good behaviour of the governors, who had taken the opportunity of the recent troubles to elevate themselves into power brokers, the maîtres de requêtes de l'hôtel were to undertake expeditions in which they might monitor the governors. The parlements would no longer be able to impose fees on the opposing parties. Judicial officials would have to be 25 years old or greater, and well versed in jurisprudence. Blasphemy was prohibited, as were libels and defamatory writings. Published works would require the approval of the king. This grand ordinance reaffirmed some prior edicts, such as the prohibition on the carrying of firearms and the inalienability of the royal domain. It was issued during February. When the Paris parlement received this ordinance, they baulked at it. Though they remonstrated against it, they were forced to concede to registering it by 23 December 1566.

This grand ordinance would serve as the basis for royal justice for the next two centuries.

On 8 February, as a reward the roles he had played during the grand tour, Catherine resolved to grant appanages to her second surviving son, as well as to her youngest. Thus, Charles gave to his brother the duc d'Orléans, the titles of the duc d'Anjou, Bourbon, Maine, Auvergne, as well as various other titles like that of Forez. He would be known by the title duc d'Anjou until his ascent to the French throne in 1574. The new duc d'Anjou was relieved of his title as duc d'Orléans, the traditional appanage of the second royal son, as this city had gained a reputation as a capital of Protestantism in France. The duc d'Évreux was made duc d'Alençon and further granted the cities of Melun and Mantes. He would be known by the title the duc d'Alençon until 1576 when he acquired the title of duc d'Anjou. Prior to his elevation as duc d'Alençon, Évreux had held the duché d'Anjou, but this was now transferred from him to his elder brother. In addition to these considerable incomes, which afforded him around 100,000 livres a year, the new duc d'Anjou entered the royal council. Due to the fact he was only a fifteen-year-old child, while he would enjoy the incomes, he would not for the present actually administer his new domain. The locations of these appanages was deliberately chosen to be in the centre of the kingdom, to avoid the possibility of them bringing about a dismemberment of the kingdom. It was also affirmed contemporaneously to their granting that the royal domain was inalienable and that the appanages would revert to the crown in the absence of an heir for the princes. The governor of Languedoc, second eldest son of the duc de Montmorency, also came in for reward. He was made a maréchal de France.

The Montmorency clan now enjoyed a great hold over the military. Montmorency himself possessed the office of Constable, his nephews held the office of Admiral and colonel-general of the French infantry, and his two eldest sons the offices of maréchal. The ageing Constable looked to see his third eldest, the seigneur de Méru granted a military office of his own. He looked first to extract the office of grand-master of the artillery from d'Estrées but he would not yield it. Likewise, Andelot made it clear he would not surrender the office of colonel-general of the French infantry to his cousin. When, the marquis d'Elbeuf died later that year, Montmorency hoped that Méru might receive his post of General of the Galleys, however this charge went to the baron de La Garde.

Condé was greatly desirous to enjoy the succession to the office of Constable upon the death of Montmorency. Montmorency for his part was keen to have survivorship of the office transferred to his eldest son. Catherine could not brook this, and in the hopes of soothing Condé on the matter one of his territories was elevated to the ducal-peerage of Enghien in his favour during 1566.

Writing to his sovereign on 20 February, the Spanish ambassador noted that the young duc d'Anjou spoke with 'too much frequency' with the admiral de Coligny and the queen of Navarre. He further argued Anjou had no Catholic servants, and while his attendance at mass had been studious in prior years, it was now quite the opposite. Álava raised this matter with the queen mother. In response to these concerns, Catherine demurred, noting that her sons went to mass and were good Catholics.

Anjou was greatly desirous, around this time, to be sent to Spain, for the occasion of his sister, the queen of Spain's childbirth. Philip wrote to his ambassador Álava in April that he should endeavour to frustrate the project of his being sent. With relations souring between the kingdoms after the Florida affair, it was considered instead by the French crown to send the prince dauphin d'Auvergne, son of the duc de Montpensier.

Invigorated by the positive reception of the ordinance of Moulins, Catherine's ambitions grew for further reform. She looked to reform finance, cutting through all the current fiscal officials to establish one trésorier for each of the 18 provinces of the kingdom. To this end maps of each province were commissioned, however only a handful would be completed.

On 12 March, the constable de Montmorency, the admiral de Coligny and the cardinal de Châtillon departed from Moulins. This was ahead of the main court.

The final stops of the royal tour transpired around Auvergne and the Nivernais. On 26 March they were in Vichy in the Bourbonnais. From here, on 28 and 29 March the lands Catherine had inherited from her mother Madeleine were frequented. This included Vic-le-Comte and Saint-Saturnin. At Mont-Dore they marvelled at the snow caked mountains.

Clermont and its twin town Montferrand (now part of the combined Clermont-Ferrand) were next. In Auvergne Riom and Aigueperse were frequented. The latter place being the birthplace of the chancellor L'Hôpital. From Auvergne the court travelled back into the Bourbonnais, and then the Nivernais. The Loire was crossed by bridge at the capital of the Nivernais, La Charité on 10 April. The court staying there for the next five days, Easter was celebrated solemnly by Charles at La Charité. While in the Nivernais, the duc d'Anjou met with the duc de Nevers in his château de La Guerche. They then entered Burgundy, staying at Auxerre, a Catholic town, then on to Sens the first stop the tour had undertaken. As the court progressed, they were careful to avoid Noyers, where the château of the prince de Condé was located and Châtillon-sur-Loing as it charted this course back to Sens.

While in Brie, in the small town of Mons-en-Montois, the memoirist Claude Haton, a Parish priest of Provins narrates an episode in which the king, and his brother the duc d'Anjou came upon a Protestant catechism and the translation of some pslams, in the house of a gunner. The two young men then proceeded to argue which of them could better imitate a Protestant pastor. The act finished, they tore up the literature they had discovered, throwing it in one another's faces. All this transpired before Catherine, and the Protestant grandees Coligny and d'Andelot, among others. Chevallier draws a parallel between this episode, and another similar one the royal children were involved in, at the expense of Catholicism, some years earlier.

The tour was now complete, and starting on 21 April made its way rapidly back to Paris. For five days the court stops at the royal residence of the Montceaux-en-Brie, then to the château de Saint-Maur on 30 April.

On 1 May, the court arrived back in Paris. The tour failed to patch over religious divisions between French Catholics and Protestants. Nevertheless, in the moment, Cloulas notes that Catherine was heaped with praise for her conciliatory work, as well as the education of her son the king she had provide through the tour. Indeed, he further states that the tour presented the herald of a permanent peace, even if this would prove to be illusory. Chevallier argues that the tour was successful for demonstrating to the kingdom the Catholicity of the royal family, and that a new civil war had not arisen during the progress of the tour. The poet, Ronsard, had the previous year extolled Catherine's pacification efforts, arguing the kingdom had seen joy supplant fear, and peace supplant discord. The historian Wanegffelen argues that the violence between Protestant and Catholics that continued in the wake of the tour challenge the effectiveness of the pacification.

In a letter of 12 May, Catherine bragged to her ambassador in Spain, the baron de Fourquevaux concerning the state of the kingdom in the wake of the tour. She noted that it was to the great frustration of the duke of Alba that the realm was so peaceable.

May

The royal family spent some time at the residence of Marie-Catherine de Pierrevive, who had married into the Italian Gondi family. One of the sons of this marriage, Albert de Gondi had followed the court through part of the tour it had undertaken. He would go on to enjoy a prominent role at court and in the government in the coming years.

Back in Paris, Jeanne was consumed by a lawsuit she was undertaking with the cardinal de Bourbon over the rights to succession concerning the Bourbon-Vendôme. The temperature in the city was lower than might have been imagined. Contemporaneously, the duc de Nemours was married to the widow of the duc de Guise, Anne d'Este. This was to the consternation of Jeanne, who had supported the case of Françoise de Rohan, a woman that had been seduced and made pregnant before being abandoned by the duc de Nemours. Jeanne's attorney had declared before royal council that Nemours deserved to have his head cut off.

Álava, the Spanish ambassador, deplored the favour the constable de Montmorency, his sons, and his Protestant nephews were in at court. Contrasting this with the absence from court of the Lorraine-Guise.

Álava further related that Catherine kept Anjou with her at mealtimes on occasion due to the violence that was inflicted on the prince by his elder brother, the king, who felt he was too soft.

On 1 June, the Papal nuncio to France, Michele Della Torre, requested of the crown the restoration of religious unity in the kingdom of France and the publication of the Tridentine decrees.

Charles, and his brother Anjou amused themselves in idle pleasures. The two men went in disguise to attend the fair of Saint-Denis during June.

During July, Charles, Catherine, the ducs d'Alençon and d'Anjou, and their sister Marguerite participated in a religious procession from the abbey of Montagne-Sainte-Geneviève to the Notre Dame in Paris. It was hoped by this means to bring an end to the incessant rains that plagued the moment.

Rumours of a Protestant plot swirled in August 1566. At this time, in addition to many Protestant ministers, the cream of the Protestant nobility was to be found gathered in the capital. The prince de Condé, the admiral de Coligny, the prince de Porcien, the comte de La Rochefoucauld and the comte de Gramont were all gathered there. Faced with this, Charles decided to return to the French capital himself. To this end, the king requested the presence of the constable de Montmorency, so that he might seek the aged grandees counsel.

The king visited the city of Laon in August 1566. There he met with a woman who was supposed to have been subject to a Satanic possession, before being exorcised of the demons.

Interwar religious policy

During the years of peace after the edict of Amboise, Catherine pursued a policy of appeasement. She was wholeheartedly supported in this by the chancellor L'Hôpital.

In the supplementary edict of Vincennes, which was established only a little while after the edict of Amboise, on 14 June 1563, Protestants were forbidden from opening their shops during Catholic religious holidays.

There was dispute between the crown and the Protestants over the meaning of the provision that allowed Protestant worship to transpire in any place occupied by Protestants in March 1563. The Protestants took this to mean any place that was under their control, however briefly, at the time of the coming of peace could bear witness to the practice of Protestantism. The crown interpreted this provision to mean, only places garrisoned and held by the Protestants at the coming of peace, not any place their soldiers happened to be marching through, qualified for Protestant worship through this mechanism.

This prohibition was stated again in a declaration of 14 December 1563. Alongside the rule concerning the opening of shops, those who in the troubles had fled from their convents must either return to the place of their monastic vows or depart from the kingdom, even if they had taken a husband or wife during their departure. Protestant worship could only occur in the designated city of the baillage and any cities held by the Protestants. Protestants in Paris were prohibited from travelling to the neighbouring baillages for the purpose of attending worship. Protestant burials in the capital would take place at night and for the baptism of their children they would travel to the place of baptism in groups no larger than four or five.

In the declaration of Lyon, issued on 24 June 1564, Charles announced that the Protestant grandees of court had of their own accord ceased to undertake Protestant worship in the royal residences.

In an interpretative declaration concerning the edict of Amboise, the King declared that Protestant pastors and ministers would only be allowed to stay at the places designated for Protestant worship and assembly. Protestants were further prohibited from establishing schools and other educational institutions.

In a further interpretive declaration of 4 August 1564, created while the court stayed in Roussillon, the king noted that parts of the original peace were ambiguous, and that the king had taken it upon himself to clear up these areas. While Amboise had granted the freedom of religion to gentleman and their households on their estates, the king made it clear that they could not extend this liberty they enjoyed to those other than their vassals. Those who violated this prohibition were to be treated as rebels. The death penalty was brought back for iconoclasm (the destruction of religious images) as well as 'provocations'. Protestant synods were prohibited, as well as the raising of taxes by Protestants, with corporal punishment the penalty for violation of this. Those members of the clergy who, during or after the civil war, had abandoned their holy orders and taken wives were to cast off their wives or leave the kingdom of France. Men who failed to abide by this prohibition would be sent to the galleys, and women would be imprisoned perpetually. When the Protestant faith was introduced to regions that had not been allocated to it by the edict of Amboise, this would come in for harsh punishment. Counterbalancing this, was an order for royal officials to allow Protestantism in all the places that the faith had been granted by the edict within 15 days.

This interpretative declaration greatly frustrated the Protestants. They felt it made their ability to practice their faith more challenging, and opened them up to dangers. Through the attack on synods and the raising of money a blow was delivered against the organisation of the church and the subsistence of the ministries. Finally the compelled return to ecclesiastical vows was an assault on religious conscience. The prince de Condé protested to Catherine and Charles about the interpretative declaration. They retorted that their interests were only to see a fair implementation of the edict of Amboise for all the crown's subjects.

For the Protestants, this was not seen to be the case. They felt their rights were being restricted, which was a prelude to them being snuffed out. Behind this nefarious scheme was the dark hand of the cardinal de Lorraine, but also Catherine.

At some point, it was declared that Protestant preaching in Paris was forbidden.

Foreign policy

The French recapture of Le Havre from the English was a vexatious development to the English crown. Among Elizabeth's advisors, there was little appetite for announcing the development to her.

The peace of Cateau-Cambrésis in 1559 had ended the long period of conflict between France and Spain and made the two states into allies. This friendship between the two powers was not an equal one, France lacking the strength to really oppose Spain. Therefore, the ambassadors the seigneur de Saint-Sulpice and the baron de Fourquevaux had to maintain at least the image of accord between the two states. This was despite the fact that it was apparent to the men that the accord between the states was not sustainable.

During the armed peace between 1563 and 1567, tensions and conflict would emerge between the French and Spanish crowns in the Netherlands, in Corsica, in the Papacy and in the New World. Though many years ago, problems also lingered from the peace settlement of Cateau-Cambrésis as related to the exchange of prisoners during the ambassadorships of both the seigneur de Saint-Sulpice and baron de Fourquevaux.

Philip looked to sooth one diplomatic sore, when, in 1563, he replaced his ambassador to France, Chantonnay who enjoyed poor relations with the queen mother Catherine, the constable de Montmorency and the wider French court, with a certain Álava. Chantonnay had reported to Philip that France was an atheistic nation whose tolerance of Protestantism would bring ruin to the monarchy and jeopardise the Spanish Netherlands. He had continually issued blunt reprimands that compromised the Spanish position in France. The new ambassador, Álava, arrived at the French court in the beginning of January 1564, while it was in Fontainebleau before its departure on the Grand Tour. Catherine ensured that the new ambassador could see the young king Charles and the duc d'Orléans participating in a tournament from the window during his audience with her. Though Álava would spend the next several years as Philip's representative in France, it would not be until July 1567 that he enjoyed the actual title of ambassador.

The seigneur de Lanssac undertook a diplomatic mission to Spain in February 1564. On 5 February he arrived in Barcelona after a difficult journey, in the company of the seigneur de Saint-Sulpice. He provided to king Philip, letters from the King and Queen Mother, and assured the Spanish monarch of French friendship. On 9 February, he enjoyed his audience with Philip II. Philip assured him of his own good will, and also that the French should put no stock in the English boast that Philip was going to support them. Philip noted he desired nothing more than to see the Franco-English quarrel resolved peaceably. Philip promised satisfaction on a range of grievances raised by Lanssac: import duties on goods entering Flanders, and the building of a fort near Gravelines among other matters. In relation to the French distaste for the Spanish ambassador Chantonnay, Philip was able to inform Lanssac that Chantonnay had in fact already been recalled. He is also supposed to have assured the French extraordinary ambassador that he opposed the Pope's recent move to dispossess the Protestant queen of Navarre of her lands.^α Concerning the possibility of a vacancy in the Pontificate, Lanssac was assured the Spanish would not oppose the candidacy of the cardinal of Ferrara. Having left his audience with Philip, the prince of Éboli assured him that other petitions he had brought on various matters relating to Corsica and Flanders would be subject to benevolent consideration. Lanssac took his leave of the king on 14 February, bearing letters to Catherine and Charles given to him by the monarch. He wrote ahead to the French court, appraising them of the happy outcome of his mission. He then went to Madrid, where he stayed for 5 days, so that he might meet with the queen of Spain, Élisabeth. While with Élisabeth he appraised her of developments in the French court, and then made his way back into France, arriving in Bordeaux by 10 March.

With the covert backing of France, Sampiero Corso worked to stir up revolt in Corsica against the Genoese. This was an assault not only on the Genoese, but also their allies, Spain. In early 1566, Álava became aware that nine galleys were being armed in Marseille. He interpreted this as an effort in favour of Sampiero Corso orchestrated by the brother of the king the duc d'Anjou. He imagined Anjou intended to establish himself as the king of Corsica.

Álava raised this matter with Catherine in an audience on 14 March. She laughed at the idea that Anjou would be made the king of Corsica. Catherine described the idea of the relationship between Anjou and Corso as hearsay, and the 'support' her son was to be providing to the Corsican patriot was laughable. Catherine's assurances did little to divorce Álava from his anxieties of a French plot in Corsica. Philip inquired of Álava to probe further on the matter.

At the departure from his diplomatic posting in Spain, in October 1565, the seigneur de Saint-Sulpice made an impassioned plea for the maintenance of friendly relations between France and Spain, and implored the Spanish ministers to work earnestly towards this objective.

In the same period, Coligny undertook negotiations with the Ottoman Empire, Crété believes this might have been towards the end of a commercial treaty or maritime alliance. To the end of these discussions, Coligny dispatched his protégé, Téligny and another Protestant noble to Constantinople in the Autumn of 1566. They were unable to meet with the Sultan Suleiman as he had recently departed from the capital for Szeged, where he would die. The nature of Coligny's mission was a mystery even to Charles IX. He inquired of Téligny and his compatriot in April 1567 whether they had gone to acquire the Sultan's support for the French Protestant cause, whether there was a plot tending to the disadvantage of the king of Spain with the Protestants of Flanders, and finally if he was cognisant of secret Protestant war preparations. Coligny denied both the first and second points raised by the king, and to the third noted that he understood no one to be arming, but if someone was arming to the detriment of the Protestants, they would respond in kind.

The opprobrium of the Spanish was raised when Condé and Coligny undertook an inspection of the border defences with the Spanish realm. Their actions were interpreted as being the impetus to a plot against 'god and King' alongside the maréchal de Montmorency.

In the final months of 1564, the admiral de Coligny worked towards the renewal of the French crown's alliance with the Swiss. This was an alliance that had last been established by king Henri II. Charles IX was keen to see the Protestant cantons joined into the treaty with France, but this was opposed by Heinrich Bullinger who adhered to the policy of Huldrych Zwingli that rejected Swiss mercenary service. Bullinger's objection was on the grounds that the cantons would be obliged to proffer their support regardless of the morality of the French king's cause, if the call came for soldiers. An embassy, comprising the bishop of Limoges and maréchal de Vieilleville was entrusted with travelling to Geneva where they were to join with de Beza, and the French ambassador to the Cantons, Bellièvre, so that they might head to the Protestant cantons. Beza assured them he would undertake interventions with Bullinger. Zurich, Bern, Schaffhausen and Basel hoped to see a clause inserted into the treaty with the French king by which he promised to strictly abide by the terms he had agreed in the edict of Amboise. Limoges, and Vielleville were little keen to adopt this clause. In the diet of Baden, which transpired in August, it would be the old 1549 treaty which was presented for the cantons. Vielleville and L'Aubespine toured Bern, Zurich and Schaffhausen hoping to overcome their opposition. As they travelled, the ambassadors were besieged with requests for the payment of pensions and other debts owed to the Swiss by the French crown, including those for military service in the prior civil war. At Fribourg, in October, Vielleville and L'Aubespine announced firmly that they would not support the addition of this new clause into the treaty. Their efforts were supported by the admiral de Coligny, who wrote to Bern on 31 October, urging them to trust in the kings word, and not require the insertion of the clause. He noted that if they expressed the sentiments of the clause verbally to the king this could be just as effective as it being a component of the treaty. D'Andelot wrote to Bern and Zurich on the same matter. Coligny again reached out to the resistant cantons on 9 November. On the admiral's initiative, the Protestant pastor of Orléans reached out to Bullinger beseeching him to make accord with the French king. Despite this multiplicity of efforts, Bern and Zurich refused to enter into the treaty. Decrue credits the alliance treaty they were able to establish to the Swiss colonel of Lucerne, a certain Pfyffer.

In June 1566, Charles wrote to his ambassador in Spain, the baron de Fourquevaux, on a host of Spanish grievances that had been raised. He challenged the idea that the comte de Montgommery with 600 men had planned a raid against Antwerp from Normandy. Charles argued that such an enterprise would require ships, and all the ports were under watch. Another Spanish complaint concerned a certain Chavigny, allegedly a bastard son of the late king of Navarre, causing mischief in Antwerp. Charles noted that he desired the arrest of this man. A similar complaint about those entering Flanders to cause disorder was responded to with a request that these men be identified so that Charles might punish them. Finally, there was the matter of the actions of the prince de Porcien, who was supposedly causing havoc in Flanders. Charles refuted this allegation, arguing that Porcien was in fact hunting on his estates.

In August 1566, a scandal developed over the robbing of the mail of the duke of Alba in France. Catherine wrote to the Spanish ambassador on 22 August to assure him that the seigneur de Lanssac had been put on the case to get to the bottom of the affair. He was to head to the post office at which the correspondence had been robbed, so that he might get to the bottom of the incident and punish those who were responsible with rigour.

Coligny had a tripartite aim in the colonisation program he supported in the Americas. New lands could be taken for France, a safe place found for French Protestantism, and Spain given a kicking in an area of relative weakness for the Spanish monarchy. Crété writes that Philip II was correct in his assumption Coligny intended his Floridian colony to be prejudicial to his interests in the region. Though the area had been explored by the Spanish decades ago, they had not established settlements in the peninsula. The French colony of 'Charlesfort' in Florida was established by Coligny in 1562 but, according to Crété the colonists soon mutinied and then abandoned the colony after failing to cultivate food and beginning to starve. Cloulas reports by contrast, that the colony did well for food through hunting and fishing. With the colonists only mutinying after the majority had returned home for reinforcements, at which point they were then preyed upon by the Spanish. After peace had returned to the French kingdom, Coligny endeavoured to send a new mission to Florida, with Charles granting permission for three boats to head west to this end. They would be captained by the Poitevin Laudonnière.

Laudonnière found recruitment easy, and among his recruits were survivors of the first expedition. On 24 April, the expedition set sail from Le Havre. Arriving in Florida, the colonists began work on a new fort they named 'La Carolina'. Laudonnière erred by flip flopping on the local alliances he established with the indigenous Floridians, first hitching himself with one confederation, before abandoning them for a policy of neutrality. He thus appeared a traitor to his first ally, a certain Saturiwa, without securing the friendship of the rival Utina. As had been the case with the first colony, there was little appetite for agricultural work in the colony. Mutineers assumed control of two of the ships and drove them into the Caribbean sea. Laudonnière attempted to build some new boats, but the soldiers involved rebelled, discontented that men of their station (i.e. noble) might be expected to engage in craft labour. In December, revolt erupted. Laudonnière was seized as were the recently completed boats. With their new boats, the rebels launched an assault on the Spanish Carribbean. They bagged several Cuban caboteurs (trading ships) and the governor of Jamaica. In the hopes of securing a ransom they set ashore, but were then entrapped, with many killed or captured. A handful made their way back to La Carolina. Those who had led the rebellion were shot, Laudonnière pardoned the others. In early 1565, conditions continued to be rotten in the French colony, with a lack of both cultivation and fishing undertaken by the French. The indigenous Americans charged a high price for the fish they sold the Frenchmen. Crété sees the diplomatic blundering of Laudonnière, and the actions of some French soldiers as responsible for alienating the Americans from them. Indeed, in addition to insulting the local population, some Frenchmen set fire to their houses, hoping this would help them to acquire food. Laudonnière came up with the idea of kidnapping Utina, and then ransoming him for food. This had the effect of alienating everyone from the French. When the French went to collect their foodstuff on 27 July for the ransom, they were descended upon and some were killed or wounded.

In the Autumn of 1565, Philip II lodged complaint with Charles about French activities in Florida. Charles protested that while he of course would not wish for his subjects to make for the lands of the king of Spain, Florida had been discovered by the French. Catherine took the same tack with the Spanish ambassador in France, Álava.

While he had found it difficult to attack the French previously, without uniting the Protestants and Catholics of the troubled French kingdom with which he was presently at peace, the marauding of the French ships served as a perfect pretext for Philip II to move against La Carolina. Philip was also alarmed by preparations being undertaken at the French port of Dieppe, that Coligny had entrusted to the leadership of Ribault. This third expedition to Florida was to be a true colonisation, bringing over to the colony several hundred soldiers and several hundred more artisans, labourers, shepherds and their families. King Charles forbade Ribault from landing on any island or country, in particular any under the dominion of the king of Spain. This group departed Dieppe on 22 May 1565. Well appraised of the goings on in France, Philip quickly moved to launch an armada to Florida under the command of a certain Pedro Menéndez de Avilés. The Spanish commander had with him 2,000 soldiers. Coligny was not without his own intelligence network, and in his final correspondence to Ribault he warned him that Avilés was intending to travel to the coast of nouvelle France. He urged Ribault to ensure that Avilés undertook nothing against the French.

Meanwhile, in La Carolina, Laudonnière was looking to abandon the colony, as soon as his ships were repaired. The English privateer and slaver John Hawkins came by the territory, and offered to take the colonists back to France on his ships. Laudonnière did not agree to this, unsure on the state of Anglo-French relations at this juncture. Instead a ship under Hawkins' command was bought for 700 écus. Seeing the dismal state of the French colonists, he also left them with some victuals.

On 28 August, Laudonnière was about ready to depart for France. Ribault's fleet was near, sighted offshore. In fact, Ribault had been around the coast already for fourteen days, but had been enjoying a leisurely exploration of the rivers, throwing the caution of his final correspondence from Coligny about the Spanish to the wind. That same day, Avilés had sight of Cape Canaveral. Ribault brought with him a letter relieving Laudonnière of his command. He was to return to France to report on whether Florida was worth French investment or not. In a verbal report, Laudonnière was presented a slate of rumours of his conduct that had made their way back to the admiral de Coligny's ears. Laudonnière hotly disputed the allegations against him.

On 4 September, the Spanish ships appeared by the colony. Initially, affairs seemed friendly, with the Spaniards promising their friendship to the French, and calling out to various members of the French expedition whose names they knew. Suspicious of the Spanish, and without men to man the cannons, Ribault and his ships slipped away during the night. The Spaniards set out in pursuit, and fired broadsides at Ribault's ships, but they were unable to catch the French, and abandoned the pursuit. The following day, Ribault and his squadron returned to La Carolina. The Spanish ships were now anchored at the mouth of the rio San Agustín. Against the advice of Laudonnière and others, Ribault decided to launch an attack on the Spanish, as revenge for their prior assault on his ships. On 10 September he sighted the Spanish ships, but they withdrew to a place the heavier French ships could not pursue. A storm now descended upon the area, and much of Ribault's flotilla was carried away, with four of the ships driven ashore. Avíles was unaware of this fact, but deduced that the majority of the French forces were on the ships, and that La Carolina would be little defended. Setting out on 18 September, he carried the fort in an assault two days later. All the men in the fort were killed, while all the children and women were spared. Laudonnière and a few others made their escape. They were able to embark upon the ships the Spanish had not seized, and make for the open sea.

Avíles returned to San Agustín on 24 September. The local indigenous population informed him of the shipwrecked Frenchmen of Ribault's squadron who were wandering the coast. They found the starving men in small groups along the coast and, after they had surrendered, killed most of them. The Protestants, under the lead of Ribault, died while singing psalms. A few Catholics, musicians, carpenters and sailors were spared. Around 200 men refused to surrender and instead made into the woods. There they built a crude fort, which was then approached by Avíles in November. He demanded their surrender, which they gave. This time, it was honoured, and they were returned to the prisons of Philip II. French Florida ceased to exist.

The survivors made their way back to France, with word reaching the Moulins through the son of Ribault, a certain Jacques Ribault on 6 January 1566. Laudonnière presented himself at the French court on 19 March while it was wintering in Moulins to seek justice. He enjoyed a cold reception. Nevertheless, Charles and Catherine protested to Philip II. With word having spread around the kingdom, there was considerable outrage with their reports. The relatives and associates of the victims presented a petition to Charles asking for justice over the cruel affair. Rather than punished, Avíles was fêted in Spain. Philip responded to Charles and Catherine's anger by noting that Avíles had only attacked Protestant pirates (who had attacked his ships) in the pay of the admiral de Coligny, who was the one truly responsible here. It had not been possible to take prisoners due to the low number of Spaniards who had made the journey. In fact, it was Coligny who deserved punishment for the episode as a violator of the peace. In addition to his warlike efforts, Coligny was also trying to introduce Protestantism to what Philip described as the "simple" indigenous people of the Americas. He further requested the crown disavow the colony.

Moving on from addressing the specifics of the situation, Philip deplored the lethargic French efforts to come to the aid of Malta when it was subject to Ottoman attack in 1565. He further critiqued Catherine's policy, contrasting it with the discussions held at Bayonne the prior year. Now Coligny was held in esteem by the French crown, which had even gone to the trouble to reconcile him with the Lorraine-Guise.

The crown was put in a difficult position by this unyielding response. Catherine neither wanted to alienate Philip nor to cast Coligny to the wind. The French ambassador in Spain, the baron de Fourquevaux was sent the royal response. He was to be firm with Philip. Charles took credit for the colony in Florida. Catherine took a similarly forward position with the Spanish ambassador Álava, taking credit for the colony and describing the Spanish cruelties in Florida as exceeding those of the 'Moor and Turk'. They soon yielded. The French response had to be limited to this diplomatic rebuke, with the kingdom in no position to seek reparations for the slaughter. Fourquevaux was supportive of Coligny, despite his Protestantism, noting to the Spanish queen that even if he were a 'Jew or a Turk' he would still be worthy of esteem.

In 1566, a French expedition, intended for the west African coast, received the blessing of the admiral de Coligny. The expedition was under the charge of the seigneur de Monluc's son, the seigneur de Caupène. The flotilla of three well stocked French ships departed from Bordeaux on 23 August 1566. Travelling with Caupène were several hundred nobles, and another few hundred soldiers. Crété puts the numbers at 1,200 soldiers. The mission was a disaster. The expedition having stopped off in Madeira, where sailors disembarked to take on water. However, they were greeted by arquebus fire from Funchal in a misunderstanding. Aggrieved at this, the French nobles and soldiers launched an attack, and Funchal was sacked by the French. During the fighting, the seigneur de Caupène received a wound from which he would die. Having seized Funchal, the French laid claim to it. The Portuguese reacted with considerable fury to this episode, expressing their desire to revenge themselves upon France and the French. Appraised of the French actions by the king of Portugal, Philip II lodged protest with Charles IX. Meanwhile, the French who had occupied Madeira returned to France. With the members of the expedition returning to France, they were put under arrest at the ports. Soon information arrived that the people of Funchal had instigated the combat. The admiral de Coligny protested against this, arguing they had avenged the wounds of Florida, and moreover they had not started the quarrel in Funchal. He succeeded in convincing Charles that the action had avenged France.

The French ambassador in Spain, the the baron de Fourquevaux asserted that it was much the same as the Spanish act in Carolina. Catherine took a less confrontational line, and offered her apologies to Philip. On 30 November, the baron de Fourquevaux reported that it was recognised in Spain by the less fervent, that the people of Funchal had brought their destruction on themselves. After a few months, the arrested members of the expedition were released on the orders of the admiral de Coligny.

On 2 August 1567, a Catholic gentleman named de Gourgues armed and launched an expedition to Florida at his own expense. The brutal and murderous actions of the Spanish in Florida had now alienated them from the indigenous population, and de Gourgues was able to enter into alliance with Saturiwa. Together with Saturiwa's forces, de Gourges launched an attack on one of the new Spanish forts on the river. The place was stormed with the population massacred, only fifteen being left alive. Subsequently the second Spanish fort was taken, with the inhabitants killed. Finally the Franco-American army approached the largest fort, San Mateo, which had a garrison of 300 men. They were caught at dinner and the fort was taken. 30 men were left alive while the rest were killed. After successfully capturing all the forts, they were razed. De Gourgues forced sailed back for France on 3 May 1568, arriving in the country on 12 June. He received a heroes welcome from the populace, but was kept at arms length by the court. Philip II put a price on de Gourgues head.

On 25 July 1564, the Holy Roman Emperor Ferdinand I died. The seigneur de Lanssac was entrusted with expressing the condolences of Catherine and Charles on this news to his successor. Lanssac was also to work on the possibility of marriage between the king's sister, Marguerite, and the son of the new Emperor Maximilian, Rudolf. Departing from Avignon on 30 September, he arrived in Vienna on 9 November, but the Emperor was not to be found there. He therefore made for Prague. These negotiations would yield no fruit. However, Maximilian would produce a handful of letters for the French king and his mother.

During 1566, a duel marriage prospect for Charles and the duc d'Anjou was considered that paired them with two daughters of the Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian II, Anna and Elisabeth. This project was being pursued by the French ambassador Bernadin Bochetel, the bishop of Rennes.

During February 1566, at the suggestion of the Danish king, the prospect of marrying the duc d'Anjou to a daughter of the the elector of Saxony, a Protestant was floated. This was to the alarm of Álava, who, in conjunction with other anxieties he had about the young duc, feared that he might be planning to convert to Protestantism. He wrote to Philip on this matter, hoping that this Protestant connection would prove to be compromising. Another prospect considered for Anjou in 1566 was the English king Elizabeth I, even though she was twice his age. This was the succession to a January 1565 effort, Paul de Foix undertook to see Elizabeth married to Charles IX. Elizabeth had shot down this earlier proposal (made in November 1564) on the grounds of the gap in their ages, while the royal council rebuffed it on grounds it may delay the arrival of royal children. Her refusal had reached the French court from the hands of her ambassador, Thomas Smith, while Catherine was in Nérac. The French ambassador in London, La Fôret brought this new proposal to the English court's attentions. For Catherine, this was not only a matter of her son's advancement, it was also a prospect for understanding to be reached between England and France. She was well aware England was looking to unite with Scotland and had a penchant for supporting Protestants in France. According to Spanish sources, Anjou, who hated the Protestant Elizabeth, rebuked the queen as a 'whore'. Nevertheless, this project would remain active until 1571.

A further development in 1567, was the renewal of English demands for the city of Calais and the comté de Guînes. The English had seen opportunity in the crisis brought about by the passage of the Spanish army along the French frontier. Thomas Smith was sent to France by Elizabeth as an extraordinary ambassador to make this request, under the terms of the peace of Cateau-Cambrésis. After a prolonged wait, Smith, and the regular ambassador Henry Norris were received by the king on 1 May. Their request was dismissed out of hand. The English, claimed Charles and L'Hôpital, had violated the peace of Cateau-Cambrésis first through their occupation of Rouen and Le Havre during the first French War of Religion. Elizabeth should find herself content with her kingdoms natural borders.

Resistance to the pacification edict

On 16 August, the crown had issued a prohibition on the possession of private weapons. The seigneur de Lanssac was one of those entrusted with ensuring this edict was enforced in the capital, where weapons were to be handed in. The poor of the city took there weapons to the arsenal to be sold, while the bourgeois and merchants logged theres at the hôtel de ville (city hall). On 11 October, Lanssac issued a follow up ordinance, relating to the weapons of the seigneurs that had been handed in. This was after disturbances in which 'fully armed men' wielding arquebuses had taken place in the capital.

To enforce the terms of the 1563 edict of Amboise, pairs of experienced magistrates, primarily drawn from the parlement of Paris were dispatched into the provinces. To satisfy the Lorraine-Guise family, the province of Champagne was exempt from receiving these commissioners. These commissioners often struggled to impose their arbitration. The local powers they encountered jealously guarded their prerogatives.

The provincial parlements of the kingdom baulked at the edict of Amboise. That of Dijon entrusted the councillor Bégat in May 1563 with illustrating the impossibility of religious coexistence to the crown.

The maréchal de Vielleville was entrusted with seeing the Protestants withdraw from the ecclesiastical property, and strongpoints they had occupied in Dauphiné, the Lyonnais, and Languedoc. In Provence, he oversaw the re-establishment of the comte de Tende in his charge of governor, and that those Protestants who had fled Provence after the fall of Sisteron during the first war of religion might return to their homes.

The maréchal de Bourdillon was sent to Rouen to clamp down on Catholic excesses in the city.

To the end of seeing the edicts of pacification properly enforced throughout the kingdom, the king ordered the various governors and lieutenant-generals of the French provinces to conduct tours of their provinces. He was greatly satisfied by the one undertaken by the seigneur de Tavannes in Burgundy and made his pleasure known to Tavannes in a correspondence of April 1567.

Sites of Protestant worship were sometimes a matter of contention. For example, the Protestants of Tours were intended to have their sight of worship in the suburb of Saint-Symphorien. The inhabitants of this place refused to accept a Protestant church in their midst. The site was therefore changed to the village of Saint-Avertin. The Protestants of Tours rejected this site due to its great distance from Tours, across the river Cher and marshes. Finally, the village of Maillé was chosen, over the objections of its clergy.

Religious tensions were compounded by economic ones. The harvests of 1565 to 1566 were poor, and as a result prices rose greatly. For example, a setier of wheat, which in 1565 sold for four livres in in the capital, peaked at a price of 21 livres and 10 sols in July 1566.

In April 1563, the seigneur de Sipierre was established as the new (Catholic) governor of the city of Orléans. The king, keen to see the Protestants and Catholics of the city live in good accord with one another looked to see Sipierre confiscate all the weapons held in private hands in the city, locking them up in a tower. The Protestants were to be allocated a place of worship, while Catholic worship was to be preserved. A few weeks later he reported on his initial progress to Catherine. He had arrested a fiery Jacobin, six 'gallants' and locked away the weapons as instructed. Only the officers of the king and Catherine were to be permitted to wear swords. The citadel was revitalised, and well garrisoned with loyal sorts. In addition to this a new fort was built.

The king ordered the arrest of a Protestant pastor who had written a book which justified tyrannicide in cases where rulers tried to suppress liberty of conscience. The seigneur de Matignon was appraised of this arrest, instructed to burn any copies of the offending book he encountered, and monitor the Protestants in his government of lower Normandy.

The consulate of the city was equally divided between twelve Catholics and twelve Protestants.

Shared religious control of the municipal consulates often allowed Catholics to maintain a foothold in places that had been conquered by the Protestants during the first civil war.

In some places, Protestant municipal domination was held on to throughout the 1560s. In Caen, the Protestants held a great majority in the échevinage throughout the decade.

A brawl broke out in Tours in 1564, with a group of Protestants attacking a Catholic locksmith they believed to have been involved in an anti-Protestant massacre of the previous year. For the Corpus Christi procession in the city, the lieutenant-general of Touraine, the seigneur de Chavigny had ordered the Protestant households to decorate their houses for the occasion. One of these households took the opportunity to throw some rubbish at the procession as it passed. Violence followed, with looters raiding several houses, with threats of drowning and murdering all the Protestants of the city.

The Protestant governor of Boulogne-sur-Mer, the seigneur de Morvilliers enforced a harsh policy to ensure religious peace in his city. The punishment for causing religious discord was to be death.

At Cravant, near Auxerre, a Protestant service was attacked, with thirteen killed as a result.

The Protestant nobility of Normandy was felt to be particularly restless. Charles wrote to the seigneur de Matignon in May 1566, noting that nobles were departing from the province towards unknown ends. Matignon was to investigate this matter to identify who was leaving from Normandy, and the purpose of their departure. He also noted that he had ordered those that were in Paris to withdraw back to their homes, and that Matignon was to appraise him of when they returned.

With the king's great-aunt Renée (the daughter of king Louis XII) proving to be sympathetic to the Protestants, Charles ordered the removal from her control of a baillage she had been ceded in Normandy. It was to return to the authority of the governor of Normandy. Henceforth, she would not involve herself in the affairs of this baillage.

Until 1566, the consulate of Lyon was equally divided between Protestants and Catholics. During that year the Protestant presence in the consulate was extinguished. As governor of Lyon, Vielleville imposed religious coexistence on the city. Protestants and Catholics were not to fight. Weapons had been confiscated from the populace, soldiers dismissed, Catholic churches reopened and their property restored to them. For their part, the Protestants were afforded permission to establish three new churches.

Lyon, which had been occupied by the Protestants during the first civil war was to have its fortifications repaired. To this end, king Charles dispatched a certain captain Corset to the duc de Nemours to oversee work on the citadel during 1566. At the request of the duc de Nemours, the honour of induction into the Order of Saint-Michel was afforded to Nemours' lieutenant-general, the seigneur de Mandelot outside of the traditional period of promotion. Mandelot's loyalty was important to the security of Lyon.

The militantly Catholic parlement d'Aix was replaced by a group of Parisian parlementaires, headed by a certain Bernard Prévost, the sieur de Morsang.

In Toulouse, the parlement oversaw the burning of Protestant books, and the confiscation of Protestant property to compensate the victims of the 1562 troubles.

The Protestant governor of Vendôme, Gilbert de La Curée, was assassinated while he was on a hunt.

Before the court had even departed on its 'grand tour', in January 1564, rumour swirled of a plan for the taking up of arms. The tangibility of these plans were confirmed by English records from March and April of that year.

Further discussions of a planned armed uprising were reported by the Imperial ambassador Simon Renard in October of that same year. He noted that there was unrest in Vendôme, Maine, and Touraine.

The capital represented a Catholic stronghold. Protestants, and those suspected of being Protestants were attacked and killed. Even great nobles, like the Protestant princesse de Condé were impacted. In June 1563, her husband played host to king Charles and Catherine. Around the gates of Paris her carriage was ambushed by with a certain captain named Couppé killed before its door. According to Mariéjol the band that attacked the Condé carriage numbered around 300 men.

On 3 January 1564, the heads of households in Paris were granted the right to defend themselves, this was due to the proliferation of private killings at this time.

In parts of the Vendée, where Protestantism was in the ascendency, such as Mouchamps and Pouzauges, the edict of Amboise did not bring about the return of Catholicism.

The return of Catholicism was refused in the city of Montauban, which had thrice been sieged by the royalists during the first war of religion. It took the application of force to get the consuls of the city to abide by the edict of Amboise. The seneschal of Quercy was to inform the Montalbanais that they must cease to practice Protestantism and that if they did not lay down their arms immediately, the seigneur de Monluc would be sent to the city. The seneschal succeeded in disarming the populace and arresting several Protestant pastors. He could not however end Protestant worship in the city. The people of Montauban invited Charles IX to their city, he informed them he would accept on condition they razed the defences of their city.

In the French Italian territory of Saluzzo, the Protestants of this place made requests to receive preachers.

In the city of Nantes, Protestants, who had been allowed to return by the edict were subject to harassment and imprisonment. The parlement court was slow in coming to the aid of Protestants. It was only by a decision of 30 March 1565 that Protestants were affirmed in their right to absent their households from participation in the Corpus Christi day processions.

In the estimation of Labourdette, it was in Picardy that the Protestants offered the greatest amount of defiance towards the pacification edict. The king ordered that the Protestants should return churches and items they had re-possessed from the Catholics, as well as tithes. In several places, Charles also observed armed preparations were being undertaken in the province. He therefore looked to ensure the border fortresses were in a proper state of readiness. D'Humières, the governor of Péronne and lieutenant-general of Picardy was instructed in December 1566 to return to his charge if he was not there presently. Charles warned d'Humières that he had been appraised of disturbances in Picardy and he should be on the look out for armed assemblies and gatherings. This included subjects of the king crossing the frontier to foment rebellion in the Spanish Netherlands.

In Amiens, the council was highly resistant to the peace of Amboise. Hoping to see the site of Protestant worship allocated to the region moved further away from their city, they appealed to the prince de Condé, governor of Picardy, for redress on the matter. Condé, though Protestant, little desired to attract the ire of the capital of his governate. He therefore compromised concerning the site of worship. This was to the frustration of his deputy, the seigneur de Sénarpont who championed the cause of the persecuted Protestants of Amiens. Protestants would not be permitted to return to city office in Amiens, and would go to their services armed with hidden weapons for fear of attack.

In Montdidier, dispute between Protestants and Catholics arose over the election of the cities mayor. Due to the proximate location of the French border to Montdidier, the King was keen to see magistrates in the place who were not consumed by passions. He hoped to see peace and security maintained in Montdidier.

In Tours, more than 10 Protestants were murdered.

A certain denizen of Clermont who failed to decorate his house front properly for the procession of the Holy Sacrament which was to pass under his window, was burned.

In Burgundy, the lieutenant-général, the seigneur de Tavannes, pursued anti-Protestantism with vigour. Those who attempted to attend services in places designated by the edict of Amboise for Protestant worship, were liable to be arrested.

Even when the Catholic authorities followed the edict of Amboise, it was to the letter of the edict. The Protestants saw in this approach an effort to slowly constrict them into non-existence. This represented a plan against them, with the cardinal de Lorraine and queen mother Catherine to be found as its architects.

Across Bas-Poitou (Lower Poitou) Protestant ranks closed during the period of peace. The funeral of the Protestant seigneur de Soubise on 2 September 1566, was the occasion for a gathering of several hundred nobles to offer themselves to the late Soubise's wife Antoinette.

Crété characterises the position of Protestantism in Normandy favourably during the peace, thanks to the efforts of the provinces governor, the duc de Bouillon.

In the lands of the admiral de Coligny, Crété describes an open religious pluralism at this time, in which alongside Protestantism, Catholicism was protected, even to the point of Coligny ruling against his own vassals, when they had been unjust towards Catholics. Indeed, Coligny would later boast before the Paris parlement that no place in France were Catholic priests safer than in his domains.

Churches were burned in the province of Provence in 1565 in the regions of Grésivaudan and Gapançais.

A Catholic priest in Gap oversaw the pillaging and mistreatment of Protestants.

The monks of Pamiers found themselves killed or on the run from Protestants on 5 June 1566 after an assault on their convent. Crété argues the Protestants were 'tired of being persecuted by their neighbours'. Mariéjol also describes the Protestants of Pamiers of having been subject to troubles by the Catholic neighbours. In addition to the monks, the Catholics were driven out of Pamiers. Catherine wanted to make an example of this defiance of the pacification edict. In the wake of this episode, royal soldiers occupied Pamiers under the authority of the parlement of Toulouse, arresting the leaders they could, and chasing down those who had fled into the mountains, taking refuge with their pastor Tachard. The seigneur de Monluc had a role to play in the suppression of the Protestant uprising of Pamiers, alongside the président of the parlement of Toulouse. Having then captured those who had fled, they would be executed the following year in May. Tachard would be remembered as a martyr by the Protestants.

In Valence, a city of Auvergne, a synod was held by armed Protestants.

Confessional relations between Catholics and Protestants in Metz were on the brink of war by 1566.

South of the Vendée down to Saintonge, skirmishes took place between Protestants and Catholics.

In the south-western territories overseen by the seigneur de Monluc, the occasional killing of a seigneur occurred during these years. Monluc also had Protestant preachers he deemed to be rabble rousers, such as a preacher in Villeneuve-sur-Lot hanged.

Things escalated in Guyenne in 1567 to a state of private war, between two camps of nobles.

Hoping to see the burden on his people lessened, on 28 February 1567 Charles ordered the seigneur de Damville, the governor of Languedoc, to have the soldiers of Francesco d'Este, which were garrisoned at Marvejols withdrawn from the place. This garrison had been staying there without paying, and in their new base they were to pay for what they took at the rates specified in royal ordinances.

A month later, on 28 March, Charles wrote to the seigneur de Matignon, the lieutenant-general of Normandy, concerning his superior the governor. The king disapproved of the way the duc de Bouillon had distributed the 12,000 livres granted to him for the purpose of ensuring his province was prepared against both internal and external threat. Bouillon had spread the money around all the places of Normandy. Charles advised that with such a methodology, the already small sum would be split such that it would be useless. Rather, Bouillon should identify the place of greatest need and and pursue it until it was in a state of completion. He advised that work should begin at Le Havre, whose harbour was in need of the funds for its repair. 9,000 of the sum should be devoted to this cause, with the other 3,000 put towards the château de Rouen. Then, come the next year, a further sum of 12,000 would be provided to the governor for other high priority projects.

In the lands of the queen of Navarre, in particular Béarn, a nominal toleration of both Protestantism and Catholicism existed. This was not the reality on the ground however, as Protestantism was ascendant everywhere. This was to the great vexation of the Catholic clergy. The cardinal d'Armagnac, the queen of Navarre's cousin, attempted to intervene in her territories, warning her of the consequences of breaking with the Catholic church like this, but he was derided by Jeanne as an 'old ignoramus'. The Spanish king Philip II was also vexed by the situation in the queen of Navarre's lands. He resented the flow of Protestant literature over the frontier, in addition to less religious concerns such as the fortification of frontier towns and the maintenance of soldiers. Indeed, he may have held fears that the queen of Navarre harboured the desire to reconquer the parts of Navarre in Spanish hands.

On the border between France and Spain, bishoprics bled across the boundary. This was the case with the French border bishopric of Comminges, part of the diocese of which was in the Val d'Aran in Spain. During this period, the Spanish king Philip II looked to amend this situation. In 1563, he petitioned the Papacy on the matter. Three years later, Pius V granted his request, allowing the Spanish bishop of Urgell, Pedro de Castellet, to install a vicar in the Val d'Aran. This was communicated to the councillors of the territory by the châtelain of the val d'Aran, Gaspard de Mur, who brought the letters of Philip II and the Pope on 31 December 1565. For the moment however, the bishops of Urgell lacked the means to actually make their episcopal authority felt in the Val d'Aran. In 1565, Philip II sought from the Papacy the rights to subordinate the convent of Augustinians in the Aran to the diocese of Urgell. The Augustinians would resist this, and would be supported by the population.

The queen of Navarre's great-uncle, Pierre d'Albret (also rendered Pedro de Albret), who she had seen appointed as bishop of Comminges wrote to the queen mother Catherine in August 1563 asking for permission to withdraw from the council of Trent. This withdrawal was sought for several reasons. He hoped to oppose the current royal effort to alienate church temporal lands. He also hoped to unite with other prelates who were seeking to exempt themselves from payments of tithes and royal justice. A further drive for his absence concerned the nature of his bishopric, which crossed the French border with Spain, two of his archpriests being in the Spanish ruled Val d'Aran. Philip II, king of Spain, had summoned the cortes of Monzón, with all prelates due to attend. He noted to Catherine, that should he fail to make an appearance, the Spanish parts of his diocese, the val d'Aran, would be stripped from him and thus from the kingdom of France. A final reason Comminges was keen to make his return related to his niece, the queen of Navarre, though this was not mentioned to Catherine but rather in a letter to the Spanish ambassador Francés de Álava in March 1564. While absent at Trent, the incomes of his diocese was taken, and Protestant clients of Jeanne installed in the bishopric. The Spanish king Philip took up the case of the bishop of Comminges in a letter to Catherine of January 1564. With no response forthcoming from Catherine, in March Philip again wrote to her, as well as to his new representative in France, Francés de Álava.

In Brunet's opinion, it is possible that as early as the meeting of the cortes of Monzón, that the bishop of Comminges' allegiance now lay with the Spanish king.

Having claimed the incomes of the diocese, in March 1564, Jeanne seized them in favour of her late husband's bastard son Charles de Bourbon. In addition to seizing the income she took the property and furniture of the bishop. The queen of Navarre argued, with the support of the Protestant prince de Condé and Catholic cardinal de Bourbon that Pierre d'Albret had only ever been made bishop of Comminges In commendam (a temporary receipt of the incomes until a new priest could be found to fill the charge). In his March letter to Álava, Pierre claimed Protestants had bought a mendacious lawsuit against him with Protestant witnesses, designed to see him dispossessed of his charge by Catherine and the royal council.

The bishop continued in his correspondence with the Spanish ambassador that this was all part of a blackmail plot against him. In his view, Jeanne hoped to bend him into becoming a Protestant, take the place of Saint-Gaudens and see Protestant preaching permitted in Comminges. Pierre assured Álava that he would rather die than allow this to come to pass.

Indeed, in April 1564, in the wake of the meeting at Grenade, Protestants broke into the collegiate church of Saint-Gaudens, killing three and putting the rest to flight. The bishop of Comminges' remarked bitterly that he dare not visit the church given the orders the queen of Navarre had established.

His allegiance now no longer to the French king, the bishop of Comminges took refuge in the val d'Aran, and undertook trips to Barcelona. He was assisted in his fugitive status, by the people of the val d'Aran, who little desired to be annexed by the bishop of Urgell. The queen of Navarre succeeded in detaching Philip from the bishop of Comminges. She did this through a representative sent to the Spanish court, a certain Savari Larboust, the seneschal of Nébouzan. This Larboust worked alongside the French ambassador in Spain, Saint-Sulpice. The former discredited Pierre d'Albret in Philip's eyes, the latter worked on Élisabeth, convincing her to intervene with her husband to stop him associating with the 'thief'. A little while after this campaign had began, Philip abandoned the bishop of Comminges.

Aware that he had little hope of securing his bishopric again, in both March and April 1564, Pierre requested from Philip that he be granted the principality of Enghien and a Spanish pension. The following year, the Spanish ambassador to France, Álava, advised Philip to not humour Pierre's attempts to be restored to his bishopric. Around this time, with the support of the Aranese, the former bishop of Comminges was making his way to the Spanish court in the hopes of just that.

The death knell of his ambitions came in 1565. The parlement of Toulouse ordered the seizure of parts of the bishoprics incomes to pay for repairs in March 1565, he was then condemned in turn before the seneschal of Toulouse, the grand council in Paris and finally the parlement of Toulouse. The end result of this was a 4 January 1566 condemnation where he was charged with various crimes subject to eternal banishment with his property to be seized.

Despite his condemnation, the clergy of Comminges continued to recognise their former bishop.

In February 1567, he signed the Acordats (an agreement first made between the territory and the king of Aragon in the fourteenth-century that ended tensions between the two) of the val d'Aran in secret. By this document a great deal of autonomy was afforded the val d'Aran. Neither Philip II nor the vicar of Aran were made aware of this. The treasonous bishop would ultimately end his days in his homeland of Navarra, dying some time before October 1567. Before his death, he had been excommunicated by pope Pius V, who charged the archbishop of Auch with administering his diocese.

Sournia suspects that Philip gave encouragement to Pope Pius IV to move against her. On 28 September 1563, the Pope issued a monitor (a Papal summons) demanding the presence of Jeanne. If she failed to appear before him, she would be excommunicated as a rebel, with her lands forfeit to any Catholic prince who might take them. The prospect of such consequences was a threat out of time. Similar Papal injunctions against the English crown and the Protestant princes of the Holy Roman Empire had accomplished little.

With the prospect of the queen of Navarre being stripped of her lands hanging over her head, the queen mother Catherine intervened in Rome on the matter. Catherine had little interest in affording the Papacy the right to dispose of the lands of a woman who was a French vassal for much of her territories. Nor did she have interest in providing a casus belli for Philip II to cross the frontier under arms. She informed the Papacy that it did not enjoy jurisdiction over those wearing crowns, nor was it his business to dispose of territories as he pleased. To the pleasure of the Protestants, the threat was not carried out. Jeanne was so grateful to Catherine for this defence of her rights, that she had more desire to kiss her feet than those of the Pope.

A similar plot to have her young son, the prince de Béarn, declared illegitimate through the voiding of Jeanne's marriage to the late Antoine de Bourbon, king of Navarre, also foundered.

The Protestantisation of Jeanne's lands, into a new Geneva was overseen by the pastor Pierre Viret, an esteemed reformer. One of the religious acts Jeanne undertook was to prohibit the celebration of the Corpus Christi procession. Itinerant preachers were to spread Protestantism as they travelled, financially supported by the villages they passed through. The funds of benefices to be redirected towards Protestants or support for the poor.

The Protestant synod went further than this still, to seek the total abolition of Catholicism in Béarn.

Nevertheless, Chevallier argues that by 1567, the temperature of religious discord in the kingdom was beginning to cool. He sees a decline in violence against Protestants, and notes that Protestants had resigned themselves to the restrictions imposed on the edict of Amboise, and that Catholics had satisfied themselves with the restrictions imposed on Protestantism. He contrasts the state of affairs in France favourably with that of the Spanish Netherlands.

Monluc's treason

The seigneur de Monluc, joint lieutenant-général of Guyenne enjoyed close relations with the Spanish going back to 1562, at which time he had received military support from the Spanish governor of Hondarribia Diego de Carvajal. For the historian Crété, Monluc became a Spanish agent as early as October 1562. In this month, Monluc was indeed writing to Philip, to commend the bravery of the Spanish soldiers in French service during the civil war. A certain Felipe de Bardaxí, a lord of the border mountains, served as an intermediary between Monluc and the Spanish court. His relations with the queen of Navarre were poor. Accusations of his dealings with Spain were alleged as early as 1562. It was claimed by his enemies that he had threatened the queen of Navarre that if she continued to support seditions, he might defect to the Spanish camp and seek a Spanish invasion of Béarn, whose nobility would rally to the Spanish sovereign. The prince de Condé claimed he was aware of lines of contact between the seigneur de Monluc, the Spanish viceroy of Aragon and the Spanish governor of Pamplona. Around November 1562, Monluc was forced to apologise to Catherine. In May 1563, he challenged in the parlement of Bordeaux, Jeanne's 24 April declaration by which she asserted her right as high justicar to regulate religious affairs in her duché d'Albret. He challenged her tolerance of Protestantism in Béarn as liable to cause war with Spain. With war against England looming in June 1563, Monluc went too far, asserting that she intended to support an English assault on the south-west of the kingdom. He was compelled to retract this claim.

The seigneur de Monluc had agreed to appraise Philip on occasion of affairs in France. Philip dispatched Juan de Bardaxí, brother of Felipe, to him no later than December 1563, and Monluc provided Juan with letters and memoires. Felipe de Bardaxí had been put under arrest in Spain at this time, but through Juan, Monluc plead that Philip grant a pardon to Felipe during February 1564. After a few months in prison, Felipe was released, paying only a small fine for his 'doctrinal errors'. King Philip well recognising the utility of the Bardaxí as cross-border agents. In this correspondence with the Spanish, Monluc denounced Catherine and L'Hôpital's policy of toleration, Protestant attempts to recruit the young to their religion, and the doings of Jeanne. He begged Philip to intervene militarily and assured him of the support of the Catholic nobility of Languedoc and Guyenne. He further requested, that if necessary, it be possible for him to withdraw into Spain. Philip thanked Monluc for his correspondence, praying that he continued to keep him appraised of developments in France, and also that he look to win over the new governor of Languedoc, the baron de Damville. Crété describes Philip's response as 'non-committal'.

Around the end of January 1564, a number of Catholic leaders Grenade (near Toulouse). Alongside the seigneur de Monluc was the cream of the southern nobility. The governor of Languedoc the baron de Damville (son of the constable de Montmorency); the cardinal d'Armagnac (royal lieutenant-general in Languedoc); the seigneur de Montespan (governor of the province of Armagnac); the vicomte d'Orthe (governor of Bayonne); the baron de Luxe (former président of the Estates of Navarre, the governor of the château de Mauléon and the lieutenant-general of the province of Soule), the seigneur de Mirepoix, and the seigneur de Nègrepelisse (a lieutenant of the seigneur de Monluc). Here, they met with the renegade bishop of Comminges, on his return from the Spanish court. Brunet speculates that the bishop might have been given a commission by the Spanish king to discuss matters with this group, and ultimately concludes he was likely carrying a message for the group of men.

In January 1564, Monluc proposed to Philip a league of Catholic princes against the French crown. Philip was keen to respond to the proposals and information Monluc was offering him. He entrusted Juan with imparting his wishes to Monluc. The most potentially compromising sentiments that Monluc provided were not to be communicated in writing, but rather orally to Juan. Around February 1564, Monluc orally confided in Juan his opinion that within a year, the French crown would have fallen to Protestantism, unless king Philip intervened to offer a remedy to the situation. Monluc implored Felipe to involve himself in such a way that the French king Charles might make war against the queen of Navarre. In the event of an extinction of the royal line in France (i.e. that Charles and his brothers had no male heirs), he proposed that the line could continue through the king's sister, Élisabeth, wife of the king of Spain. He derided the French ambassador in Spain Saint-Sulpice as a heretic, noting that any French representative in the Spanish court would be one. These sentiments were imparted to Philip while he was in Barcelona.

With Felipe de Bardaxí released from his captivity, he was sent to go to Monluc, and report on everything. He arrived by April 1564. Monluc spoke on the release of Felipe de Bardaxí to Juan in a letter of May 1565, claiming the Spanish king's love for him as the cause.

Unfortunately for Monluc, the meeting at Grenade did not remain a secret. A, perhaps intoxicated, La Gravière (the seneschal of Quercy), after a dinner at Estillac confided some of Monluc's remarks to the baron de Peyre. Peyre entrusted a certain Rapin with bringing news to the Frenchc court that Monluc intended to betray control of Guyenne to the king of Spain. Rapin allowed himself to be made a prisoner at court, so that his accusations might be validated. After briefly being put on trial for slander by the king for his accusation, he was shortly released with the trial not having come to pass. This episode was leapt upon by the queen of Navarre and her court. In their estimation, the meeting at Grenade had seen the participants form a league for the betrayal of Guyenne to Philip, endorse and apply the Tridentine decrees, that Monluc's second son was in Spain as part of these dealings, and that Monluc had entrusted La Gravière with assaulting the city of Montauban. The renegade bishop of Comminges dismissed the queen of Navarre's allegations in a letter to Philip, describing them as the brainchild of her 'apostate' advisors.

La Gravière was summoned to court, but he denied the statements attributed to him. Monluc's reputation was muddied by the queen of Navarre's accusation. The Spanish ambassador reported that he was to be recalled to court, with the maréchal de Bourdillon dispatched to take over the lieutenant-generalcy of Guyenne in his place. Yet Catherine did not desire a diplomatic incident, and was keen to smooth over the affair. Monluc defended himself by claiming that the meeting at Grenade was in fact for the funeral of his nephew, the baron de Clermont. The cardinal d'Armagnac was in Grenade on his way to the wedding of the seigneur de Mirepoix to the daughter of the baron de Terride, Catherine-Ursule de Lomagne. The others present likewise defended themselves. Monluc argued contrary to his accusers that he had expressed nothing to Philip that he had not expressed to Catherine. If he had discussed the queen of Navarre, it was only to note his disapproval of her anti-Catholic policies. If he had discussed the council of Trent, it was to dismiss its adoption in France, not mandate it. While he desired to raze the walls of the various Protestant strongholds, such as Montauban, he did not desire to see the places themselves destroyed. There was also the matter of his son, Jean de Monluc, he had not embarked at Narbonne to enter Spanish service, but rather to travel to Rome and Malta. He ended his defence by requesting that notice of his desire to duel his accuser be posted at the court. Along with the cardinal d'Armagnac, the baron de Terride, and the seigneurs de Mirepoix and Nègrepeliss, he wrote to Catherine on 15 May requesting exemplary reparations, but Catherine did not grant this.

While this justification could explain the presence in Grenade of Monluc, Armagnac, Terride and Mirepoix, it could not explain the presence of all the men. Particularly problematic was the visit of the bishop of Comminges, who had no cause to be there. Monluc stated in his defence, that the cardinal d'Armagnac had reproached the bishop of Comminges for seeking support from the Spanish king. He counselled instead that the bishop of Comminges make his appeal to his sovereign. A further problem with Monluc's testimony was that, even if his second son was in fact heading to Malta, another of his sons, Pierre-Bertrand de Monluc (known at Peyrot) was seeking to enter Spanish service around this time.

In assessing the guilt of the meeting at Grenade. Brunet, a specialist in this area, concludes that, contrary to the Navaresse claims, it was unlikely that the plan was to hand Guyenne over to the Spanish sovereign. Nevertheless, this was not a simple happenstance meeting, but rather a conference of those dissatisfied with Catherine's government. He cites the behaviour of these men after the conference as evidence. In assessing his guilt, Monluc's biographer, Sournia characterises Monluc as more guilty of naïveté than subterfuge. He further argues out Monluc had no ability to parcel out lands, and no strategic plans for an invasion are featured in the correspondence. Ultimately he summarises Monluc's Spanish relationship as a correspondence of no consequence.

He would, as needs be, command partisans in Guyenne on Philip's behalf.(where does it belong)

Going forward after the Grenade affair, Monluc would continue his Spanish correspondence, but more carefully than before, dissimilating in the same fashion he would one day do so in his memoires. The Bardaxí continued to serve as his intermediaries. A further boon to this was the development around this time of a more robust and secure Spanish information network in the south-west of the kingdom. In September 1564, the Spanish king liaised with Monluc through Bardaxí concerning organising his supporters in France under the seigneur de Monluc's authority. The lieutenant-general was not successful in bringing the governor of Languedoc, the baron de Damville, into the fold.

In 1566, Philip assured Monluc that he would provide his support to the Catholic levies of Guyenne if the Protestants rose up.

During 1566, Jeanne established an ordinance by which Calvinism was declared to be the only permissible religion in her lands of Béarn. This revoked a bi-confessional tolerance established in 1564. Civil war followed in the comté de Foix. The baron de Gerderest conspired an uprising to suppress Calvinism in Béarn (including the expulsion of all ministers), kidnap the queen of Navarre and her children, and expel all the non-Béarnais from the territory. This had the support of the Spanish, as well as the canons of Lescar and Oleron, and various Catholic nobles. Having received warning of the conspiracy while on her way to the spars of Eaux-Chaudes, Jeanne reacted quickly. She was able, without bloodshed, to frustrate the plans of the conspirators.

The Protestants of Foix seized the city, massacring 120 Catholics.

Jeanne's religious policies, combined with her tax policies, aroused resentment in her lands. There were protests against it to be found in Limoges, Pau, Foix and Pamiers. These frustrations escalated into armed insurrections.

The 1567 estates of Béarn served as a new flashpoint between Jeanne and the Catholics of her territories. The queen of Navarre was challenged by the deputies from both the First and Second Estates. This showdown induced a further resolve in Jeanne to see Catholicism purged from at least Béarn.

While their conspiracy in Béarn had been frustrated, Catholic notables held a stronger position in Basse-Navarre. Under the command of the comte de Luxe, several Navarrais gentlemen (the seigneurs de Domezain, Espelette, Etchaux and Garro) entered revolt against Jeanne during 1567. At Saint-Palais, a Catholic League was formed in September 1567. This revolt enjoyed the covert support of the queen mother Catherine. Indeed, she awarded the comte de Luxe the collar of the order of Saint-Michel. Jeanne dispatched a certain captain Lalane (the maître de camp of Jeanne's infantry) to bring Saint-Palais back into line with her directives. Lalane's mission was a failure, with the representative being imprisoned by the rebels at the château de Garris.

In 1568, the crown declared the queen of Navarre and her son to be prisoners. While initially it was to be the comte de Luxe who was charged by the duc d'Anjou with the royal mission to seize Béarn and basse-Navarre, this charge would in fact be granted to the baron de Terride. The baron de Luxe would serve as the lieutenant-general in Soule. The army of the baron de Terride succeeded in conquering Béarn. Only the fortress of Navarrenx held out against Terride. Catholicism was restored in Béarn at Terride's direction, the various religious laws Jeanne had instituted being swept away.(when)

The queen of Navarre entrusted the comte de Montgommery with leading a relief army into Béarn. This army swept away that of the baron de Terride, instituting an even stronger Protestant hold over Béarn. Those Navarrese and Béarnais nobles who had collaborated with Terride were punished.(when)

Frustrated by this open defiance, in February 1568 the queen sent out her son, the prince de Béarn. With the young Béarn for this mission into Navarre was one of the great seigneurs of the region, the comte de Gramont, who had governed the vicomté de Béarn for the queen during her absence. These two men were at the head of a troop.

Arriving in the area, the rebels fled. The prince de Béarn pursued them beyond Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port. He then returned to Pau where he had the procureur-général (attorney general) de Béarn, a certain Jean d'Etchard harangue the population in Basque. In this harangue, the people of Navarre were assured that their privileges and rights would be respected, and they would not be compelled into Protestantism. Pleased by this harangue, the prince de Béarn was acclaimed by the crowd.

The rebels reproached the comte de Gramont for what they felt to be his betrayal of their cause for that of the queen of Navarre. Indeed, the queen of Navarre had granted an advantageous marriage for the comte de Gramont's son, the comte de Guiche to a certain Diane d'Andoins, who enjoyed incomes of 25,000 écus.

During 1568, Catherine's representative, the seigneur de La Mothe-Fénelon would intervene with Jeanne to see that the noble conspirators received pardons. He also urged Jeanne and her children to come to the French court.

Queen of Navarre

Of an austere disposition, Jeanne sought to mould her territories in her image. In July 1566, a prohibition was declared on blaspheming, drunkenness, prostitution and certain dances. Gambling was clamped down on through the banning of the sale of dice and cards. Begging was also outlawed.

In Babelon's estimation, the queen of Navarre was increasingly the soul of the Protestant cause in France. In her hôtel in Paris a meeting was held between Jeanne and the prince de Condé, admiral de Coligny and prince de Porcien as to the future of the Protestant cause. The latter figures keen to seek her advice.

After the arrest of several of her pastors, Jeanne resolved to depart from the capital. She made her excuses to Charles IX on the grounds of a desire to conduct a tour of her sons domains with the young boy.

In November 1566, Jeanne requested the presence of Coligny and the cardinal de Châtillon, along with several pastors, to investigate the Protestant minister Morély whom she had hired to tutor her son the prince de Béarn. Several years previous, Morély had (according to Calvin) launched an attack on the organisation of the Calvinist church on the grounds of its aristocratic character. He favoured instead a more democratic church. Calvin had the work burned in Geneva and it was condemned by a French synod. Though he was a persona non grata, Jeanne had hired him either in an act of defiance against the Calvinist church, or one of ignorance. Coligny had been inclined towards lenient treatment of Morély, so as to avoid troubles. The cardinal de Châtillon had been more fervent in his support for Morély, writing to the French synod that had denounced him to chide them. After this point, letters were discovered written by Morély in which he demeaned Theodore de Beza and the Genevan community. With these letters now translated into French and known to Jeanne, she summoned the Coligny-Châtillon brothers. It was concluded even if not guilty of heresy, Morély was guilty of defamation. Coligny wrote to de Beza to express his disappointment, and noted his newfound understanding of the man, and conviction such errors must be rooted out with vigour.

The queen of Navarre again took leave of court after Charles having ordered the bailli of Paris to hang one of her pastors. The pastor in question was able to escaped. Her leave was taken on the grounds of showing her son his patrimonies. Around the same time Jeanne and the prince de Béarn took their leave, in January 1567, Condé and Coligny also made their departure from court.

The Spanish ambassador, more well appraised than Catherine, informed the queen mother that she had been deceived by Jeanne. He informed Catherine that Jeanne had no intention to return to the French court. Indeed, after a brief stay in La Flèche, the mother and son withdrew first to Poitou and then to her domains in Gascony.

Now in the south without leave, the young prince de Béarn declared himself in accordance with his mother's faith, and her policies. This shattered the work Catherine had done to bind the prince to the royal children.

Having learned of the plan Condé intended to undertake, Jeanne maintained herself in a position of neutrality, feeling the Protestant church in the south-west was too vulnerable to risk in a contest of arms. In addition to personally abstaining, she stopped her nobles from involving themselves in his enterprise.

Leagues

Several Catholic Leagues had developed under the stewardship of the seigneur de Monluc during the first French War of Religion. With the conclusion of this conflict, Catherine ordered Monluc to dissolve the League of Bordeaux founded by the comte de Candalle. This league had resisted being dissolved by the edict of Amboise. In the summer of 1563, rumour swirled that the Catholics of Guyenne had formed a new league.

The sieur de La Mauvissière reported that Catholic Leagues sprang up from 1564 in Touraine, Anjou and Maine. For example, the bishop of Le Mans is to have gone from manor house to manor house recruiting nobles to the Le Mans League.

Alongside the bishop of Le Mans in this organisation was to be found the governor of Le Mans, the seigneur de Chavigny.

That of Anjou was the work of the bishop of Angers after his return from the council of Trent.

Leagues (known as the confréries du Saint-Esprit - confraternities of the Holy Spirit) emerged in Burgundy under the leadership of the lieutenant-general of the province, the seigneur de Tavannes in July 1567. In every town that subscribed to a league a militia and surveillance committee was created. Dijon, Autun and Chalon boasted reserves of money for the maintenance of soldiers and the employment of spies. The leader of the committee in Chalon was called the prior and enjoyed the captaincy of the citadel of Chalon. Tavannes conducted a census of the Catholic forces, and saw to their organising. The richest members of the towns would require horses for when fighting broke out, the more middling sorts arquebuses. Tavannes was greatly proud of his Burgundian league, boasting that with it, the Protestant leagues could be opposed on equal footing. The possibility of federating these leagues between the towns, either to the level of the baillage or to the province was considered by some. Pernot sees in the Burgundian leagues, a forerunner of the later Catholic League.

Contemporarily with these developments in Burgundy, from 27 July 1567 to 12 August 1567, a gathering took place in one of the suburbs of Toulouse under the instruction of the parlement of Toulouse. It was agreed to raise an army, which would be paid for by the diocese of Auch, Comenge, Couserans, Tarbes, Lombés and various other territories. the seigneur de Montespan would serve as the armies superintendant.

In the Limousin and Navarre, Catholic organisations brought together people of all Estates during 1567. It was on 3 May 1567 that a confrérie de Sainte-Croix (confraternity of the holy cross) was established in Limoges. Its members presented themselves as new crusaders, with a cross emblazoned on their hats.

Following the example of Tavannes in Burgundy, Catholic organisations sprang up in Beaune, Chalon, Tournus, Mâcon.

During 1567 in Provence, penitential brotherhoods proliferated. This included the penitents of Sainte-Claire de Cassis, which was headed by the local bailli (bailiff). The bishop of Marseille authorised the creation of two new penitential brotherhoods in the same year. The purpose of these brotherhoods was to clear the diocese of Protestants, including those to be found in the outlying villages where the new faith still enjoyed some strength.

It was not only the Catholics that organised militarily during the peace. In July 1567, an assembly was held at Châtillon-sur-Loing. The kingdom was divided into sixteen military/political districts by this meeting. Each province would have its own war council.

Court intrigue

Relations between Coligny and Charles IX became difficult in 1566. The admiral was forced to make apologies on 17 August to the king for a meeting he had undertaken at his brother the cardinal de Châtillon's residence in Bresle. He explained that all they had got up to during this gathering were hunting expeditions. Charles little bought this, and gave him the choice of departing the capital or being thrown in prison.

Indeed, Coligny was accused around this time of having plotted to kill Catherine. This accusation came after the capture of several gentleman, who when interrogated, claimed Coligny had encouraged them to act against the queen mother. Cross-examining the gentleman before the royal court, Montmorency burst into a fury at their testimony, which he found to be full of contradictions, and urged Charles to have the would be assassins executed. Decrue finds no basis for Coligny's involvement in any such plot. He notes though that Catherine, keen to maintain a balance at court, kept the affair open, much to Montmorency's irritation. Montmorency therefore withdrew to Chantilly, over the protestations of Catherine who sought his recall. While absent from court, Montmorency visited his nephew Coligny.

Returning from his crusade in Hungary, the young duc de Guise stopped over at the Bavarian court where he was well received. On 16 December 1566, the cardinal de Lorraine entreated the duke of Ferrara to see to negotiations that would have his young nephew married to a Bavarian princess. By February 1567, it had become clear to the cardinal de Lorraine that the duke of Bavaria felt little haste to marry off his daughters.

Dutch revolt

The king was aware that various French Protestants wished to support the Geuzen (beggar - the name of the anti-Habsburg party in the Spanish Netherlands) across the frontier. To this end they engaged in raids, with suspected support from England. On 6 June 1566, Charles ordered that the baron de Colombières be arrested for his role in the raids.

The Spanish regent of the Netherlands, Margaret of Parma sent a letter of complaint concerning the actions of the comte de Montgommery, who she charged with having raised 500 arquebusiers in Normandy and raising armed ships to travel to Zeeland. She further complained about the prince de Porcien, who she asserted was conducting reconnaissance on the Franco-Spanish northern border.

It became apparent to the French crown that the situation in the Spanish Netherlands was heading towards confrontation in the summer of 1566. To this end, Catherine had hoped to inspect the border fortifications with Charles in July 1566. This was hotly protested by the Spanish ambassador Álava, who saw in such an effort the dark hand of the admiral de Coligny and prince de Condé who were attempting to drive the French Protestants to arms in favour of the Dutch Protestants.

Charles asked, on 27 September 1566, to be appraised of the information in Matignon's possession concerning the actions of the baron de Colombières with all possible haste.

French prospective action

In November, the admiral de Coligny and prince de Condé met with delegates representing the Protestant Imperial princes: the duke of Württemberg, the count palatine of Zweibrücken, and the elector Palatine of the Rhine. These delegates had travelled to France in an official capacity, seeking to secure payments of the debts owed to them by the French crown from their mercenary service in prior years. The Spanish ambassador became aware, a further offer had been made during the meeting, to put 5,000 infantry and 10,000 cavalry at the disposal of the French for the conquest of Flanders. The French king would march into Valenciennes in this plan. This plan could be the king's for the price of 200,000 écus. The constable de Montmorency was on board with this proposal, as were his Protestant nephews. Charles himself opposed it, wishing to maintain good relations with his brother-in-law the king of Spain. Catherine feared the might of Spanish power, and was also conscious of the fiscal straits the kingdom was in after the first civil war. She therefore opposed military adventure in the Netherlands. Catherine also imagined that in gratitude for Charles' failure to endorse the martial proposal, Philip would drop his opposition to an Imperial bride for Charles.

Spanish action

In August 1566, a revolt erupted against Philip II in the Spanish Netherlands which saw a wave of iconoclastic Protestant action as churches were sacked. This revolt was led by the nobility. The discontent of the Dutch nobility with the Spanish sovereign had been a subject of French diplomatic correspondence as far back as 1559. The Spanish king, Philip II, entrusted the duke of Alba with crushing the revolt in the Netherlands and terrorising the Protestants. Alba enjoyed a reputation for violence among the Protestants. To this end the Spanish general was to march along the French border with an army brought up from Milan. In November 1566, Alba requested of Charles the right to lead his army through France itself. He explained to the French ambassador Fourquevaux that Spanish recruits would head to Luxembourg, Naples, Sardinia and Sicily to replace the veterans stationed there. Several thousand troops would be pulled from Milan, and reiters raised in the Holy Roman Empire. The army would trace the French frontier through Savoy, the Franche Comté and Lorraine. However, as it was winter, it would be impractical to cross the Alps. Therefore, Alba proposed that the troops arrive in Marseille or Toulon, then chart the path of the Rhône so that they might reach Franche Comté. While they passed through French territory, they would be fed by the French. Fourquevaux responded to Alba that this would induce a Protestant uprising. Alba dismissed the notion, arguing the strength of the Spanish force present would mean such recourse would not be considered by the Protestants. This did not sooth Fourquevaux, who wrote to Charles IX in concern that this whole eventuality might in fact be cover for a different purpose. With such a formidable force close to the kingdom, the French king Charles IX, sought the council of the prince de Condé and the young duc de Guise. Coligny and his brother d'Andelot had returned to court in March, and looked to see 6,000 Swiss mercenaries and 10,000 French infantry raised as guard against the passage of the duke of Alba. According to Castelnau, Coligny warned Charles and Catherine that it was the ambition of the Spanish crown to see France ruined. Per the recommendation of the Protestants, Charles would arrange for the hiring of 6,000 Swiss soldiers (undertaken in December 1566), and 10,000 French infantry in case things turned south. The captain of these 6,000 Swiss was a certain colonel Pfyffer. There was a particular fear that the Emperor might take advantage of a recent truce he had concluded, to descend upon the Three Bishoprics (Metz, Toul and Verdun) and seize them. Crété argues the Protestant leadership were favourable to the hiring of soldiers in the hopes they might be used to support their coreligionists in the Netherlands. The old constable de Montmorency supported his Protestant nephews drive to raise troops and fortify the border, as he enjoyed warm relations with the Dutch and German princes. Indeed, he had recently met with his Dutch relative, the baron of Montigny, who was the brother of the count of Horn one of the leaders of the Dutch troubles. The two men enjoyed a private four hour interview on 1 June 1566. He had also entertained the ambassadors of the German princes of Hesse, Württemberg, and Cleves. Nevertheless, the constable de Montmorency did not favour a Spanish war, much to the disappointment of the Protestant leadership. In March 1567, the comte de La Rochefoucauld visited Chantilly in search of Montmorency's support. Montmorency categorically refused to support a war with Spain. In addition to the raising of the Swiss were another 10,000 French soldiers, as per the recommendation of Coligny and d'Andelot. Philip II was appraised by Catherine of the hiring of the soldiers the crown had undertaken. Contrary to the intended purpose of the raising of the Swiss, their recruitment, in conjunction with Alba's march, confirmed some Protestants' suspicions that back at the Bayonne meeting in 1565, a plot had been formulated tending towards their liquidation. Catherine also saw to the supplementing of the fortifications in Picardy, on the frontier with the Spanish Netherlands. By contrast, when the Spanish ambassador Álava learned of the hiring of these soldiers, he enjoyed a bitter meeting with Catherine on 3 July, during which the ambassador fumed that France had no need of the soldiers they had just hired. Catherine tasked the baron de Fourquevaux with justifying their employ to the Spanish court. Charles informed Alba of his refusal to allow the Spanish passage through French lands, on the grounds the safety of his soldiers in lands filled with Protestants could not be guaranteed. Catherine did not wish to alienate her son-in-law, the king of Spain though, and the French would therefore supply the French army as it made its move northwards outside of French territory. In addition to this, Flemish refugees would not be permitted to settle in France, and the king's subjects would be prohibited from proffering armed aid to their co-religionists in the Netherlands. The Protestants baulked at the thought of the crown feeding the Spanish army. The duke of Savoy and duc de Lorraine were more amiable to the Spanish, and allowed Alba passage through their lands. Though he had afforded passage to the Spanish army, this did not mean the duc de Lorraine was blind to the dangers of the proximity of so many foreign troops. Along with the Swiss he assumed arms in case the Spanish decided to descend upon him.

Condé arrived at the French court during this crisis, at the instruction of the crown.

To some disquiet, he took the initiative in royal council on 10 July by making a promise to raise 5,000 cavalry within a few days. The authority under which he would raise and command troops was questionable. On the one hand these might be raised for the good of the kingdom, on the other, for his own personal advancement. Though some found this proposal agreeable, others on the royal council were unsettled.

At the prompting of the royal council, Anjou confronted Condé in the gallery of the château. With him for this menace laden meeting were archers from the royal guard and several 'great lords'. The duc d'Anjou noted that while Condé may not have respect for Charles or Catherine he might perhaps show it to him, the king's lieutenant-général. He chided the prince for suggesting it was his right to raise horsemen on his own initiative. The prince asserted to Condé that this was a matter so close to royal power that it was beyond even the constable to do such a thing, the initiative for such an act being in Anjou's hands. Anjou called on Condé to return to his company of men-at-arms and cause no further trouble. As Anjou addressed the prince, he is to have played with his sword, and toyed with his dagger. Some other historians, such as Garrisson and Carpi record this meeting differently, suggesting the dispute was over Condé's interest in the title of lieutenant-general should war break out. Anjou is to have rebuffed Condé arguing such a title would rightly belong in his hands. The Spanish ambassador was greatly impressed by Anjou's approach, lauding him as a leader of the Catholic party. In Pernot's estimation, in transcribing Anjou's speech to the Spanish king, Álava likely embellished the confrontation.

Condé protested that no service other than that given towards the king was in his mind by such a proposal. He spoke softly in response to the hot words that Anjou had delivered against him. Brântome sees the duc d'Anjou as possessing a particular hatred of Condé. Chevallier notes that Condé was 37, had a glowing military career and enjoyed popularity with the soldiery. Anjou by contrast was only 16 years old. Humiliated by his treatment at the hands of the king's brother, and, according to the historian Crété, fearful for his life, the day that followed, 11 July, he requested leave of the court and departed. Having left court, he made for the château de Vallery, a property of his.

That same day, the court arrived at the château d'Écouen, a residence belonging to Montmorency. Álava made an appearance here, to demanded the adoption of the resolutions of the council of Trent. Charles and Catherine rebuffed the Spanish ambassador on this, noting that they abided by the terms of the Tridentine decrees as concerned suspect bishops, but reserved the right in their own house to follow their own customs. While Catherine represented a defiant attitude towards Álava, the duc de Montmorency employed a softer touch, giving the ambassador a tour of his château.

According to an English diplomatic report, the fortresses on the Picard frontier were fortified, as were those on the border with Luxembourg. Fortification work also began at Verdun. Soldiers were dispatched to the Lyonnais and the maréchal de Vielleville made for the Lorraine strongpoint of Metz. Cloulas reports that in addition to reinforcements in the Three Bishoprics, were the provision of soldiers to the remaining French Piedmontese possessions as well as the Picard border. The French crown already had several thousand Swiss soldiers in its employ, that were under the command of the duc d'Aumale in Champagne. Catherine ordered that these troops be put on alert.

Alba made his departure, with his army of 16,000 soldiers (hardened veterans that concerned even the Catholic duchies), from Cartagena on 10 May 1567. He passed through Savoy, Franche Comté and Lorraine on route to Brussels. On route, his passage took him past Geneva. The Protestant city had put itself under heavy arms. By July he was to be found in Luxembourg. Finally, on 22 August, Alba entered the Spanish Netherlands. Concurrently, it was in August, as Alba concluded his journey, that the Swiss mercenaries that had been hired for his passage entered France. Though he had passed, Catherine maintained the soldiers that had been raised for the period during which he marched by the border. The Protestants hoped to see the raised troops employed towards supporting their coreligionists in the Netherlands against the Spanish. Catherine's policy thus left them unsatisfied. It also generated confusion and concern as to why the Swiss remained in the crowns employ now that Alba had passed. On 8 September, in the Netherlands, Alba engineered two high profile arrests, that of the count of Horn and the count of Egmont. Alba devoted himself to domestic repression in the Spanish Netherlands, no longer offering a threat to the French border.

The Protestants, seeing the fate of their compatriots in the Netherlands, feared a similar eventuality was in wait for them in France. Alba would cross the border and exterminate them in conjunction with the Swiss the crown had maintained employ of. Constant describes the Protestant fears as 'largely false'.

Both Protestant and Catholic nobles were keen to lend their support to the revolt in the Netherlands, so as to spite Philip II.

In Paris, the Spanish ambassador exhorted Catherine to follow the Spanish example in dealing with the Protestants of France, and chastised her for her policy of toleration. Charles was more sympathetic to these exhortations, being of the opinion he must instil obedience in the Protestants.

Final months of peace

At some point in the Spring of 1567, Catherine held a secret meeting with the Protestant leader Theodore de Beza.

Montmorency, who had retired from court in anger over not being granted the monetary spoils of confiscations made by the crown, was summoned to return by Catherine in March 1567. She hoped that he might serve as a counterweight to the hawkish prince de Condé. The constable refused the summons on the grounds of 'illness'. On 20 April, orders were sent out for all the members of the court to assemble at Fontainebleau. Montmorency stayed obstinate in his refusal. Catherine offered Montmorency 30,000 livres for his travel expenses, and his eldest son, the maréchal de Montmorency, endeavoured to see his father come to court. Montmorency resisted, instead sending the seigneur de Lanssac in his place.

Soon after making this decision, he abandoned his resolve, and made his way to join with the court.

On 1 May 1567, concerned that the gendarmerie was understrength, Charles ordered that all captains of the compagnies (companies) to hold a review on 1 June, while being in attendance themselves. The king hoped this would ensure the compagnies were best able to serve him.

In May 1567, Condé's first son by his second wife was baptised. Charles refused to attend the baptism, little interested in making a showing at a Protestant ceremony, sending in his stead the admiral de Coligny.

The Spanish ambassador Álava, reported back to his king during May and June that there was great hostility to be found between Charles and his brother the duc d'Anjou. According to his reports, Anjou avoided playing tennis with the king, meanwhile Charles raged at his mother's relative favour towards his younger brother.

On 29 May, Charles attended a procession of the blessed sacrament alongside Catherine.

During the summer, the king and his mother spent time in Compiègne, seeing to the state of the border defences with Flanders.

Coligny again departed court around this time, appraised of a plot tending to his disadvantage. He had however been granted the Spanish cipher by a secretary of the Spanish ambassador.

In June, the seigneur d'Andelot came to Paris, to undertake recruitment for his bands.

Having got into a fracas with the maréchal de Cossé, who refused to respect his authority as colonel-general of the French infantry, Andelot bitterly departed from court, retiring to his lands in Brittany.

The Spanish ambassador Álava, in July wrote to king Philip. He opined that surely Charles was now old enough to wage a war against heresy. When he enjoyed an interview with Catherine he made an impassioned case for her and her son to strike against Protestantism.

Towards the end of July, the cardinal de Lorraine returned to the French court. Around this time, he was of the belief that religious affairs in the kingdom might be settled if only Catherine and Philip were able to meet for a few hours. His nephew, the young duc de Guise had just had a marriage arranged with the Protestant widow of the prince de Porcien, Catherine de Clèves. Around this time, the Swiss mercenaries that the French had hired entered the kingdom.

A dual marriage transpired in August for the sons of the constable de Montmorency. In attendance were the Savoie-Nemours and the Lorraine-Guise. The seigneur de Méru was married to the eldest daughter of the maréchal de Cossé (the seigneur de Gonnor had recently acquired the baton of the maréchal upon the death of the seigneur de Bourdillon). Concurrently, Montmorency's fourth eldest daughter, Marie, married the comte de Candalle.

Coligny and Condé campaigned for the dismissal of the Swiss mercenaries. The crown was not yet ready to undertake this, Charles keen to see the 'fine soldiers' and thus Catherine had written to the constable de Montmorency on 21 August to have them brought to the capital so Charles could inspect them, and get his money's worth from their employment. Seeing the Swiss approach Paris, the Protestant leadership demanded an explanation from Montmorency. According to the Protestant contemporary historian Agrippa d'Aubigné, writing decades later, he responded bluntly "Que voudraiz vous qu'on fist de ces Suisses bien payés si on ne les employait" (What would you have us do with these well paid Swiss but use them?). The fear and suspicions of the Protestants were mutual, the king having been appraised the Protestant leadership were secretly reaching out to their assemblies to put themselves in a state of readiness. Charles thus sent the seigneur de Thoré, a son of the Constable, to Châtillon. Coligny provided to Thoré a memorandum in which he denied having told a single man to take arms, noted that he did not control all the Protestants in France, and explained the distrust of the Protestants towards the king's Swiss, whose raising could have no other purpose than one tending towards their disadvantage due to the friendship between Philip and Charles.

Around this time, both the seigneur de Soubise and the prince de Porcien, two leaders of the Protestant cause, died. Soubise had faded after a long illness. Porcien meanwhile, was young and healthy, and therefore contemporary suspicions fell on him being the victim of a poisoning.

Surprise of Meaux

Several meetings were held among the Protestant aristocratic leadership, all of whom attended with the exception of Soubise and Porcien. These meetings transpired at Vallery, a property belonging to the prince de Condé, and Châtillon-sur-Loing, a property of the admiral de Coligny. In the first two meetings, the admiral de Coligny took on the position of the cool head, who advised against confrontation, while most of the others were in favour of assuming arms. Condé was part of the war camp, he argued that the Spanish queen was pregnant, and the birth of a child was going to strengthen the bonds between the French and Spanish crowns and that Catherine and the cardinal de Lorraine were soon to imitate the example of the duke of Alba in the Netherlands by arresting both him and Coligny. He succeeded in convincing them of the dangers of rebellion and counselled patience. While the Protestants were meeting at Châtillon-Coligny, they had with them a host of 1,200 to 1,500 horsemen. Catherine was aware of this great host having met there, but put little weight in it.

Then, according to Crété, Coligny is to have learned of a plot by which he and Condé were seized, with the one killed and the other thrown in prison. The Swiss would fan out between Paris, Orléans and Poitiers and then the edict of Amboise would be annulled. The English ambassador Norris reported that, under pressure from Lorraine, the edict was to be revoked, the Tridentine decrees imposed and Protestantism outlawed on pain of death.

Condé summoned the Protestant leaders to Vallery at the start of September. The time for patience had passed. D'Andelot made a passionate speech for rebellion. They would capture some towns (Lyon, Toulouse and Troyes), destroy the Swiss, and drive from the French court the cardinal de Lorraine. Once in such a strong position, they could extract religious toleration. Coligny endorsed this proposal. Constant arges that it was at Vallery that the plan to kidnap Charles and Catherine was agreed upon. In essence, the coup-de-main of capturing the royal family was a repeat of what the Catholic grandees had accomplished in 1562 at the outset of the first French War of Religion.

It was agreed that they would follow Condé's suggested location of Rozay-en-Brie for an armed meeting which would transpire at the end of September. Orders went out to gather here but individually, not arriving as a great host. These were distributed through the Protestant church system in France. The Protestant soldiers, primarily from the West and East of the kingdom, made the journey by day and night in small groups, avoiding the main roads. As the nobles made their way to Rozay, they stayed in the châteaux and in provisioned barns. This did not attract attention as nobles of status were accustomed to travelling with armed retinues in this period. Rozay was seized by the Protestants on 24 September.

The contemporary Protestant, La Noue, ascribed four key objectives for the Protestant leadership by the resumption of war: to secure strategic towns, to form a coherent army, to massacre the Swiss mercenaries in the crowns employ and to drive the cardinal de Lorraine from the French court. Once the king was freed of the influence of the Lorraine-Guise family, Charles could then mete out punishment to the arrested Guise. Jouanna characterises this plot as a re-run of the 1560 Conspiracy of Amboise. Miquel argues Coligny intended the capture of the king to be quite different to that attempted at Amboise in 1560, undertaken professionally, and with the Estates General quickly called after the capture. Constant explains the motivation of the coup as to remove the young Charles from the reach and influence of his nefarious mother Catherine, and the cardinal de Lorraine.

The chancellor l'Hôpital attempted to salvage the peace at this eleventh hour. He urged Charles to make concessions to the Protestants.

As early as 4 September, Catherine wrote to the maréchal de Cossé to investigate the veracity of rumours of a gathering of between 1,200 and 1,500 horsemen around Montargis and Châtillon. She nevertheless asserted she did not believe these rumours. Wanegffelen summarises her disposition as being one that could not conceive of another Protestant uprising.

At some point, spies were dispatched to Châtillon by Catherine. Arriving in Coligny's domain, they saw the admiral dressed in peasants clothes, attention focused on preparations for the upcoming harvest. This was a disarming display to report back. Decrue states that it was one of the sons of the constable de Montmorency, the seigneur de Thoré, who came to meet with Coligny, and saw this episode.

On 10 September, Catherine declared herself to be satisfied by the maréchal de Cossé's investigation and was assured that Cossé would maintain a key eye over his governate of Anjou to be assured such troubles would not emerge. Indeed, her concerns lay primarily with the Catholics as likely disruptors of the peace, and on 11 September she wrote to Paris to caution the city against the committment of any outrages.

Catherine wrote to her Spanish ambassador, the baron de Fourquevaux on 18 September. In this communique she noted that there had been baseless rumour of a Protestant enterprise. If the thought was on their minds, with the news from Flanders reaching them, it did not develop beyond that.

Word reached the court, which was staying at the château de Montceaux-lès-Meaux, in the form of the seigneur de Mauvissière, who had just returned from Spanish Flanders where he had been sent to offer the king's compliments to the duchess of Parma and the duke of Alba. He stated that he had become aware of a Protestant plan to seize the king and the greater royal family, which had been confided to him by several Protestant travelling companions. By this time, 400 Protestant horsemen had already arrived in the area. He first confided these reports in a private interview with Catherine and the king where he was little believed. They then bid him address the same story to the constable de Montmorency, the duc de Nemours, the duc de Guise and the chancellor. The constable de Montmorency derided the weakness of the Protestants, noting that was an amassing of Protestant force underway, he would be aware of it. The chancellor de L'Hôpital chided the messenger for spreading rumours that risked the standing of the kingdom's peace. For L'Hôpital such false fearmongering was a capital offence.

This complacency was ruptured with the arrival of a second messenger, a certain Titus de Castelnau, brother of the seigneur de Mauvissière. He had been on a reconnaissance mission. This new messenger reported that Condé, Coligny, Andelot, and the seigneur de Mouy were at the head of several thousand men near Montceaux, the nearest of which were already at nearby Lagny, only two leagues away.

The royal family quickly made for the nearby city of Meaux, where they could shelter behind the walls until the arrival of the 6,000 Swiss mercenaries encamped at Château-Thierry. While in the city, on 27 September, Charles issued a circular explaining the 'scandalous coup' that, if reports were to be believed, threatened not only his life, but that of his mother and brothers. These circular letters were accompanied by a more personal one from Catherine, in which she expressed the bafflement she and Charles felt at the situation and urged the provincial governors to maintain their currently stable situations. Any enterprises tending towards the frustration of this peaceable situation were to be countered by the governors.

On 28 September, Charles appraised the duc de Nevers of the fact that his subjects had risen up against him. Catherine made a plea to 'her cousin', the new duc de Nevers. He was counselled to make his way quickly to unite with the court, and bring with him as many men as he could.

While holding council in Meaux, the chancellor de L'Hôpital proposed that they find out the reason that the Protestants had assumed arms. This is to have occasioned an outburst from Catherine who angrily accused L'Hôpital's moderate policy of being the cause. The maréchal de Montmorency, eldest son of the duc de Montmorency was entrusted with going out to negotiate with the Protestant leaders. He reported back to his father that the Protestant nobles were determined. Crété characterises his negotiations as a stalling tactic to bridge the time until the Swiss might arrive. Getting wind of the approach of the Swiss, the Protestant leadership cut the talks short.

The chancellor L'Hôpital and the constable de Montmorency were little inclined to see the court withdraw to Paris. By contrast the Lorraine-Guise at court, and the duc de Nemours counselled a retreat to the capital. Catherine was torn on how to proceed. By withdrawing to Paris, the faction of nobles with the court would be elevated into the royal faction. By this means, the kingdom would again be in a civil war. A misunderstanding is then supposed to have followed in a conversation between the captain of the Swiss Pfyffer and Catherine. Pfyffer assured Catherine that the 6,000 Swiss could well protect the court for the retreat back to Paris, misunderstanding her reasoning for being hesitant to follow that course. Catherine in turn interpreted Pfyffer's reassurance as a protection for the court from becoming a pawn of the 'Catholic faction', thereby ensuring she still enjoyed the autonomy necessary to pursue a policy of pacification. Thus it was resolved on to depart for Paris.

While the king wanted to proffer battle, the constable de Montmorency organised the flight of the court. Departing from Meaux at 02:00 in the morning on 28 September, the court began its flight. The Swiss thus escorted the court first to Lagny and then back to Paris, surrounding the royal party with a wall of pikes as they marched, their number acting as the vanguard and the rearguard as the court made its progress.

The cardinal de Lorraine, for his part, took flight by means of a Turkish horse. This brought him to his destination.

As this force marched, it was harried by the cavalry of Condé and Coligny who were attempting to seize the king. Condé had approached the Swiss, stating that he desired to speak with the king, they responded by lowering their pikes. Condé then charged, but penetration into the royal hedgehog of pikes was not possible. The Protestant cavalry, numbering perhaps five or six hundred under Condé and Coligny's command looked to disrupt the royal progress. The fierce resolve of the Swiss kept the Protestant horsemen at bay, and they made little impression against the phalanxes. According to the later writings of the (at that time) twelve-year-old vicomte de Turenne, the king himself took a sword and endeavoured to involve himself in the combat with the Protestants. Montmorency had to reprimand the king for risking his life in such a way. From Paris, the duc d'Aumale and the maréchal de Vielleville came out with forces of their own to join with the royal party. Therefore, despite these cavalry assaults, the court was able to make it into Paris, arriving in the city around by around 04:00 that same morning. In the latter stages of the flight to the capital, once the threat of the Protestant cavalry had subsided, Charles and Catherine proceeded by carriage. The carriage was surrounded by those gentlemen loyal to the crown. This was not without risk, as had the rebel Protestant's realised the changing travel methods of the royal family, they would have needed only a few hundred horsemen to seize their quicker moving adversary.

As a result of the coup attempt, Catherine's heart hardened against the prince de Condé. She considered him to be a traitor, and became more favourable to war. She also rebuked the chancellor L'Hôpital, ascribing the crown's failed policy to him. The king too was embittered by the experience of the coup and his subsequent flight. He exploded in rage that never again would he be subject to such a cause of panic, and that he would punish those responsible even if he had to seek the perpetrators out in their houses. It would remain in the memory of both figures.

The objective cities of the surprise of Meaux for the Protestant rebels: Troyes, Toulouse and Lyon were not captured. The conspiracy also failed to drive the cardinal de Lorraine from the French court.

Having reached the capital, Catherine described the Protestant enterprise, in her correspondence with the baron de Fourquevaux, as an 'infamous enterprise'. Similarly in a postscript of a letter of 29 September written to the duke of Savoy, she characterised it as the 'greatest wickedness in the world'. She also vented her frustration at how her hard efforts to pacify the realm were being unravelled.

On 8 October, Catherine, through Charles, wrote to the baron de Gordes, lieutenant-general of the province of Dauphiné. She urged him to stop any of those that might be on their way to support the Protestant cause. Where he identified that they were stubborn in their resolve to do so, he was to slaughter them.

Charles wrote to the duke of Savoy that it had been necessary for the Swiss to protect him from the Protestant attacks. He noted that the Protestants had seized cities, attempted to seize and kill him, but that god had not allowed this to transpire. These shocking acts were despite the fact that the 'Protestants had not been obstructed in their enjoyment of the pacification edict', therefore the excuse of defence of religion rang hollow to the king. Thus, there was nothing religious about suppressing this rebellion.

Pope Pius IV, wrote to the Papal nunzio in France, cardinal della Torre, in October that he should counsel the queen mother that those who had advised her to dismiss the advice of the cardinal de Lorraine had led her poorly.

Treatises

In the published discourse justifying the steps they'd taken, Condé and his supporters positioned themselves not as representatives of the Protestant faith, but the broader interest of the kingdom. In his protestation, entitled Requeste présentée au Roy, par Monseigneur le Prince de Condé accompagné d'un grand nombre de Seigneurs, gentilshommes et autres qui font profession de la Religion réformée en ce Royaume, Condé stated that his desire was to see the King convoke the Estates, and bring to pass relief for Charles' subjects. They did not seek to impose a Protestant supremacy, indeed, Condé forbade his supporters from molesting others on the grounds of divergent religious beliefs.

In a follow up document titled Advertissement sur la Protestation de Monseigneur le Prince de Condé that built on Condé's, those who disapproved of Condé's protestation for not having made any mention of Protestantism were chided. It was Condé, and indeed the broader nobilities, duty to defend all the king's subjects irrespective of religion. The princes du sang and entire nobility could not revolt in favour of a specific part of the population, but only its whole.

The crown was implored not to sequester the provision of office and award away from Protestant nobles but grant this royal favour without consideration for religion. They protested that as a result of their exclusion from dignities, the dignities were being awarded to unworthy men. In a broader sense they argued Charles was debasing nobility to common status and raising commoners to nobility.

In the pamphlet Mémoires des occasions de la guerre, appelée Le Bien Public, rapportés à l'état de la guerre présente the current conflict was analogised with that of the War of the Public Weal in 1465. The author set out the situation in 1465, a kingdom in which justice failed, taxes were improper, and the state was in disorder. The author noted that Louis XI was raising those of low birth, and demeaning those of great birth. These ills mandated the calling of an Estates to resolve. The prince de Condé was thus justified in taking up arms to see the bringing about of an Estates General, as no other recourse had been left open to him.

This was the first time in a century that the ambition to curtail the monarchs power through an intermediary body like the Estates had been forwarded. Indeed, Chevallier finds parallels with the League of the Public Weal, as had the contemporary pamphleteer.

Pernot argues that the rebel Protestant attempts to ensconce themselves in a broader political program had the effect of further disgusting Charles IX, who believed in a more absolute monarchy. The rank and file Protestants were also dismayed that a right to freedom for worship for all was not a feature of their leader's rhetorical battle.

Negotiations

Though she had distanced herself from the policy of the chancellor L'Hôpital, he was nevertheless one of the men tasked (alongside Morvillier, the bishop of Orléans and the maréchal de Vielleville with getting Condé and the rebel Protestants to lay down their arms in return for amnesty by Catherine on 3 October. This was refused by the the Protestant leadership, with Condé responding in writing to the offer of L'Hôpital to demand universal freedom of worship throughout France regardless of station or location. which demanded the convening of an Estates General, the lowering of taxes and the purging of the kingdoms Italian advisors and other foreigners (including those of Lorraine-Guise and Savoie-Nemours), who burdened the people with unjust taxes. The Italians were 'even guilty of imposing fiscal burdens on the nobles, who were unaccustomed to such things. This last point was a direct attack against Catherine and her Italian advisors. Cloulas grants that it was true that she utilised Italian financiers to support the lavish court in return for allowing them to reimburse themselves from tax revenues. The discussions initially concerned themselves with banalities. The constable de Montmorency refused to entertain negotiations on this basis, arguing that edicts were the business of the king, and not his subjects. He further stated that the edict of Amboise, which brought the first war to a close with a degree of toleration was always intended to be provisional, and the king could not brook two religions in his kingdom. Decrue reports that the Constable got into an argument with the cardinal de Châtillon, and also that upon meeting his nephews he refused to dismount his horse. The historian Cloulas characterises Condé's demands as "arrogant". L'Hôpital wished to continue negotiations, but this earned him a rebuke from Catherine, who now placed responsibility for the religious policy of the last years, and thus the present situation, in his hands.

On 7 October, in a revival of an ancient ceremony, several ornately dressed heralds appeared in the Protestant camp. They twice summoned the prince de Condé, admiral de Coligny, the seigneur d'Andelot and the other Protestant leaders to surrender themselves with three days, or be declared guilty of rebellion. The herald had instructions to express to the cardinal de Châtillon his uncles regret that he had secured advancement for his nephew. Though caught off guard by this unusual ceremony, the Protestant leaders remained committed to their course. While certain moderations were inspired by this display, the leadership believing they might have overstepped the mark in their involvement in matters of taxation and government, they nevertheless demanded the surrender of Calais, Le Havre and Metz as surety, the disarming of the crown and dismissal of foreign troops in the royal service (i.e. the Swiss).

After this, the constable de Montmorency was sent out to the Protestant camp. He upbraided Condé, noting that Charles would be betraying Christianity to establish two religions in his kingdom. He argued that if the king restored the edict of Amboise it would be at his discretion to modify and revoke it as he pleased. He remained open to negotiations however, Wanegffelen suspects this was a product of him acting on the orders of Catherine. Nevertheless, on 8 October, his nephew Coligny essentially prohibited further negotiations. Military confrontation became inevitable.

Siege of Paris

Writing to the governors of the kingdom on 5 October, Charles reinforced the earlier royal directives issued at the end of September. They were to maintain their provinces in passive obedience to the crown, with his subjects demonstrating their loyalty and affection to the crown. Where they identified those inclined to support the Protestant rebellion they were to if necessary slaughter them to a man. This brutal repression was aimed at those Protestants who used religion as a 'pretext' for rebellion, rather than the religion at large.

Though safe from the Protestants in the fervently Catholic Paris, the king was now trapped in his capital, which was encircled by the Protestants. No longer able to seize the king, the Protestants resolved to starve the city out, thereby forcing the royalists inside to give a battle, which, having been won by the Protestants would win the war for them. The Protestants established a camp first at Claye-Soullis and then at Saint-Denis on 2 October from where they put the capital to siege, hoping to starve the place out. Their numbers were not sufficient for such an approach. A large number of places around Paris fell to the Protestants: Saint-Denis, Lagny, Charenton, Porche, Fontaine, Buzenval, Argenteuil, Saint-Ouen, Aubervilliers, Dreux, Montereau, Étampes and Dourdan. A large garrison was installed at Montereau. Their soldiers fanned out into the countryside, torching the mills between the Porte du Temple and the Porte Saint-Honoré, stripping churches of their wealth, and impeding the passage of food convoys into the capital. At Montereau the Seine was impeded, at Charenton the Marne blocked, cutting off supplies to the capital. The winning of Étampes cost the capital its granary.

Condé stationed his forces jointly at Saint-Denis and at Le Bourget.

Inside the capital, Charles permitted the people to arm, they descended upon the Protestants in their midst, killing them.

Catherine wrote optimistically to the duc de Nevers on the royalist position in the capital. She argued that their position was strong, with many good people coming to reinforce their party in the capital. She also urgently summoned the seigneur de Tavannes to make for the capital immediately with all the forces at his disposal, so that he might serve the crown. In addition to his own compagnie he was to bring with him that of the duc d'Aumale, the comte de Charny, the comte de Vaudémont, the comte de Roussillon, the count of Bene and the duke of Savoy. She assured Tavannes his passage to Paris would be trivial, as all the rebel Protestants were concentrated in the confines around the city. In his absence from Burgundy, the seigneur de Vennoux would hold the fort in the province as lieutenant-general. Tavannes received two communications from the capital around this time, one on 28 September, the next following the day after, both advising him to make haste to the capital.

On 15 October, the king wrote to the duc de Nevers. He was to unify the forces he was bringing to the capital (the five old companies that were stationed in the French Piedmontese fortresses) with the new 4,000 Swiss the crown was raising. To hold the forts in his absence, legionnaires could be raised from Piedmont or other companies moved in. Nevers was advised that a representative of his had already arrived at the French court bringing word of the energies Nevers was devoting to the raising of foot soldiers. He was assured that the army was well served for foot soldiers, and he should not tax himself overly in this pursuit.

The next day, the duc de Nevers was instructed to recapture for the crown places in Dauphiné that had fallen to the Protestants on his route north. Three days further, on 19 October, Nevers was urged to see to the restoration of royal control over Vienne in Dauphiné and Mâcon in Burgundy, both of which had entered Protestant hands. To assist him in this, he could look to the force under Birague in Lyon. Given the paucity of royal funds, it was hoped that Nevers would be able to accomplish this with only 1,200 livres brought with a certain Molé would suffice, with the rest accomplished on credit.

The duc de Nevers had still not arrived in Paris by 7 November. The king, impatient for his arrival, ordered that he, and his soldiers, not devote themselves any further to anything other than making their way to the capital with all haste. It was stressed that it would be in Paris that the climactic showdown transpired, and therefore this was where it was important for all royal commanders to be. The king noted that the Swiss Nevers was bringing were presently without a commander of the their own, Charles advised Nevers to pick a worthy Frenchman for the position while they were on route to the capital. Charles suggested the seigneur de Nançay for the role.

The duc de Nevers oversaw the recapture of Vienne for the royal cause at some point during November. This received congratulations from the king in a letter of 23 November. The monarch advised that he also see to reconquest of Autun and Mâcon. He hoped that the capture of these places would not delay Nevers too long though, as he hoped to see him link up with the royal army under the duc d'Anjou. He hoped that it would be possible for Nevers to take these places on route.

With four gendarme companies having been summoned to the capital from Picardy, Charles was concerned for the defence of this sensitive border province that stood next to the source of the rebels potential for greatest aid, the Dutch Geuzen. As such, Charles wrote to d'Humières on 5 October to advise him to raise four companies of the Picard legion, which would be stationed in Péronne. With Spanish help having been called for by the French crown, d'Humières was instructed to receive the forces of the duke of Alba on 11 October.

A week late, on 18 October, d'Humières was advised that Condé was attempting to draw some artillery companies from the province, over which he was the governor. D'Humières was to intercept the artillery, and prevent its transport to the Île de France.

As Burgundy, Champagne and Anjou were largely quiet of disturbances, these places could have their soldiery summoned to the capital with relatively little risk.

Reinforcements

Making their way to join with the besieging Protestants were the comte de Montgommery who brought with him a small force, the seigneur de La Rochefoucauld coming up from Poitou and the comte de Gramont who brought Gascon soldiers with him.

The constable de Montmorency also received reinforcements. He soon enjoyed an army of around 15,000 to 16,000 infantry and 4,000 cavalry, with further volunteers. The Parisian volunteers were given the insignia of a white cross. Aid could be anticipated to arrive from the duke of Alba also sometime soon. Cloulas puts the royal cavalry at 8,000.

Charles ordered the mobilisation of the old bands, under Filippo di Piero Strozzi, in addition to all other available men of war. Strozzi's band came forth from Picardy. Meanwhile, Montmorency ordered the seigneur de Brissac to bring reinforcements from Lyon.

The constable de Montmorency came in for criticism for allowing his significantly numerically inferior besiegers to have the capital in their vice. He struck out on 4 November, capturing Argenteuil. This was followed the day after with the occupation of La Chapelle.

Several advantageous blows were delivered for the royalist cause. On 6 November, the commander Strozzi destroyed a pontoon bridge the Protestants had built upstream on the Seine to block the river. The following day, the duc de Nemours seized Buzenval back from the Protestants. Despite the increasing assertiveness of the royalists, on 8 November, Condé resolved to send away the seigneur d'Andelot to capture Poissy, and the comte de Montgommery to take Pontoise. His army was left deficient in numbers. Worse, the constable de Montmorency was appraised of this, and on 9 November departed from the capital to give battle. The Constable had been dogged by rumours that he was refusing to give battle due to the fact his nephews were among the besieging army.

Saint-Denis

With the Protestant line weak (numbering around 1,200 to 1,500 cavalry and a similar number of arquebusiers according to Crété), the constable de Montmorency effected a sortie through the porte Saint-Denis with his cavalry and artillery. The Protestants were aware of this, and the leadership debated how to proceed. Some counselled abandoning Aubervilliers and Saint-Ouen and retreating to Saint-Denis where they could reunite with the seigneur d'Andelot. Coligny favoured harassing the enemy without affording battle. Condé favoured battle. The only compromise Coligny was able to achieve was to delay the giving of battle to the afternoon so that if necessary the army might withdraw under cover of darkness.

Both Charles IX and his brother Anjou had been desirous to join the army, so that they might fight the besiegers. Catherine and her advisors succeeded in recalling them back to the Louvre. She was uninterested in offering the possibility to the Protestants of achieving what they had failed to achieve at Meaux unnecessarily. They would instead watch the coming battle from one of the Louvre towers. The Protestant force had divided their cavalry into three corps, the right under the command of Coligny at Saint-Ouen, the left under the seigneur de Genlis at Aubervilliers and the centre under Condé's command. Coligny's flanks were watched over by the arquebusiers who were on foot. The Protestants had no cannons or pikemen. Montmorency enjoyed a 6:1 numbers advantage, and deployed on both sides of the causeway that led from Paris to Saint-Denis. Mariéjol puts the royal army at around 18,000 infantry and 3,000 gendarmes, while the Protestants had between 1,000 and 1,200 arquebusiers, and 1,400 to 1,500 cavalry armed not with lances but poles to which iron tips had been attached. Le Roux puts the Protestant numbers a little higher, at 3,500 infantry and 1,500 cavalry. The constable de Montmorency's force had 6,000 Swiss under the command of Pfyffer, 10,000 French infantry under the command of Strozzi and the seigneur de Brissac, the cream of the French gendarmerie and good artillery. Decrue rates the skill of Strozzi, Pfyffer and Brissac highly. The plan of the Constable was to seize the two anchor points of the Protestant army simultaneously, before advancing on Saint-Denis. On the Constable's left, facing Saint-Ouen, was the cavalry of the duc de Nemours, the seigneur de Thoré and the duc de Longueville, as well as a legion of the Parisian volunteers. Montmorency himself was in the royal centre with the gendarmerie and the Swiss. To his right the royal artillery, and then the royal right under the maréchal de Cossé. Cossé had the cavalry companies of the duc d'Aumale and seigneur de Damville, the infantry of Strozzi and Brissac. Battle was joined between the royalists and Protestants at 15:00 on 10 November at Saint-Denis, close to Paris. Montmorency hoped to separate the Protestants from Saint-Denis, and looked to attack the Protestant left. He was hasty, and even before observing the effect of his artillery barrage, or waiting for his infantry to deploy, he ordered Aumale and Genlis' cavalry forward against the seigneur de Genlis' corps. The seigneur de Biron and maréchal de Cossé were ordered to charge with their cavalry, but their advance was broken by a ditch filled with Protestant arquebusiers. Despite being outnumbered, the Protestants attacked. Coligny's cavalry crashed through the light cavalry opposite them and penetrated into the Parisian bourgeois volunteers. As the Parisians withdrew in disarray they caused confusion among the Swiss. Condé's gendarmes drove into those of the constable de Montmorency. In the ferocity of the attack, the constable was unhorsed and isolated from his men, and was approached by a certain Robert Stuart. By this time, Montmorency was already wounded to a great degree, having received four sword blows and a strike on the head from a mace. Stuart called on Montmorency to surrender to him, to which Montmorency rejoindered by striking Stuart in the face with the hilt of his sword, knocking out three teeth. Concurrent to this defiant act, Montmorency was shot in the kidney with a pistol and fell to the ground. He was rescued from the field by his sons Thoré and Damville. His eldest son, the maréchal de Montmorency restored control over the royal army. He pursued the admiral de Coligny while his younger brother the seigneur de Damville chased Condé's squadron. During the chaos, Condé's horse was shot out from under him. Taking advantage of the rainy conditions to enjoy a withdrawal without pursuit, the Protestants fell back to Saint-Denis under the cover of darkness. The field, and the victory, were left in the hands of the royalists. Garrisson argues by contrast that the battle had no real victor. Le Roux describes the Protestant retreat from the battle as 'catastrophic'.

In total, around a thousand were killed at the battle of Saint-Denis. Of these, a majority were Protestants.

Among those who got their first taste of battle at Saint-Denis was the royal bastard Henri, the chevalier d'Angoulême, then only sixteen-years-old.

The constable died two days later of his injuries. He was granted an elaborate funeral by Catherine at Notre-Dame-de-Paris. Participating in the funeral procession were many of Montmorency's prominent son-in-laws, the king's brother the duc d'Alençon, the cardinal de Bourbon, the duc de Longueville, and various prelates and knights of the royal order. Catherine and the king watched from a scaffold. An effigy was made for the occasion that even modelled his facial wounds. His heart was then buried in the Celestine convent alongside that of king Henri II with whom he had been so close. The Spanish ambassador Álava, who had held deep suspicions of Montmorency's religious inclinations, celebrated his death in a letter to Philip as a 'true miracle from god'. For her part, Catherine wrote to Philip that she was thankful no other great noble other than the Constable had died during the battle. Despite this proclamation, Montmorency was not the only prominent death of the battle. The Protestant's lost the vidame d'Amiens, the comte de Sault and the comte de Suze.

Victory went to the royalists, primarily by virtue of remaining in control of the battlefield.

With the death of the constable de Montmorency, the position of Constable of France fell vacant. It would not be filled again until 1593. The importance of the charge required a noble of complete loyalty, in addition to military prowess. Charles asserted no one was required to fill the position. Catherine disagreed.

It was inappropriate for Charles himself to take on leadership of the army with Montmorency's death for several reasons. In the neo-platonic conception of the monarchy which was in fashion at the time, the king was the soother of troubles. Further, if he were to himself fight rebels, it would be to dignify them with an undeserved importance. Thus, it would be the job of the duc d'Anjou to deal with Condé's army.

This did not mean Charles did not wish to involve himself actively in military affairs. He announced to the duc de Nevers on 15 November his desire to make for Champagne so that he might come face to face with the reiters that Condé had recruited. His council succeeded, with some difficulty, in dissuading him from taking this course.

The role the king had in mind for the cardinal de Lorraine in the civil war was of great displeasure to the latter figure. He wrote to Charles on 14 November that as the king clearly did not think him a worthy figure, that he allow him to retire to his estates while a younger man take over his place.

It was decided in council on 14 November to elevate the duc d'Anjou as lieutenant-general of the kingdom. Charles signed the letters patent but backdated them to 12 November so that there would be no interregnum in the holding of supreme military command. In the absence of a Constable, this role made him the sole leader of the royal army (as Pernot puts it, the 'commander in chief'). As Anjou was heir presumptive to the French crown, he could be assured to devote himself solely to the interests of the crown. Beyond this, royal power was also delegated to the lieutenant-général in any place in which Charles himself could not act. The charge had not been occupied since the death of the duc de Guise, François in 1563. Catherine thought this a prudent course given the jealous nature of the leading families of the kingdom that hungered for the office of Constable. Indeed, the new duc de Montmorency (formerly the comte de Dammartin) angled to have himself made the second in command to the new lieutenant-general, thereby acting as a continuator to the office of Constable that his father had held. Hoping to force the queen's hand on this front, he and his brothers, along with other princes, threatened to depart court. The duc de Montpensier, duc de Nemours, duc de Longueville and duc d'Aumale looked to see the seigneur de Sansac receive the charge of Anjou's deputy. The maréchaux baulked at this proposal, threatening to depart, much as the Montmorency had done.

To assist the duc d'Anjou in his new military career three military advisors were chosen: the duc de Nemours (who had recently married Anne d'Este and thus affixed himself to the Lorraine family), the duc de Montpensier (a countweight to the Lorraine aligned Nemours but also a virulent Catholic), and the maréchal de Cossé (a moderate Catholic also chosen to ensure the Montmorency did not feel left out in the cold). Cossé (formerly known by his title as the seigneur de Gonnor) was a recent elevation to the Marshalate. These three men got on poorly with one another, and were not good strategists. Anjou, still young, lacked the gravitas to settle the disputes between his honour sensitive advisers.

As the role of lieutenant-general made him not just the commander of the military but also the alter-ego of the king, Anjou also enjoyed a council of his own. In this council were the duc de Montpensier, Montpensier's son the prince dauphin d'Auvergne, the duc de Nemours, the duc de Longueville, the seigneur de Méru (one of the late constable de Montmorency's sons), the duc d'Anjou's governor Carnavalet and his future favourite the seigneur de Villequier. The king was involved in the composition of Anjou's war council. He advised his brother on 1 March 1568 to see the comte de Radan, who Charles rated as a worthy figure, included in his council.

In the contemporary writer Brantôme's opinion, Catherine afforded her son the maréchal de Cossé as an advisor because he would oppose following a firm course against the Protestants.

From his appointment until the end of the conflict, Anjou would write 125 letters, of which around a quarter were for the attentions of the court.

Anjou appeared before the parlement of Paris on 17 November, where he took an oath. The next day he wrote to the duc de Nevers, appraising him of his new command. The maréchal de Matignon also received a letter similar in character to that sent to Nevers.

Writing to the Pope on 22 November, the duc d'Anjou assured the Pontiff that no other prince would be devoted to the preservation of the Catholic religion as he.

Royalist aid

No sooner had she arrived in Paris, than Catherine began sending out foreign diplomatic feelers to the Catholic powers. The duke of Alba promised to dispatch 2,000 men from the Spanish Netherlands. She leant on the duke of Savoy to provide the aid he had promised, looked to her cousin, the duke of Florence to provide between 100,000 and 200,000 écus. Similar requests for money went to the Pope for up to 300,000 écus. Pope Pius assented to the raising of this fund through the employment of half an annate (the annual income of clerical land in France). Delighted at the thought of a war on Protestantism, he further proffered 25,000 écus and offered 6,000 soldiers. The new duc de Nevers was asked to raise several thousand soldiers from Piedmont.

During the November of 1567, Charles IX entrusted his bastard half-brother the chevalier d'Angoulême with welcoming the Spanish soldiers of the count of Arenberg. This role was granted to Henri over the hesitation of the queen mother Catherine. Arenberg arrived in France on 25 November, from the Spanish Netherlands. He had been sent on behalf of the Spanish king Philip II, who wished to support the fight against the French Protestants the crown was now engaged in. Welcoming Arenberg represented a significant responsibility for the bastard Henri, due to the missions diplomatic as well as military dimensions.

The Pope similarly offered support to the royalist Catholic cause in terms of soldiers. He became little inclined to proffer financial support, lest it be devoted to another end than the fight against heresy. He further demanded Catherine dismissing the chancellor de L'Hôpital and the maréchal de Montmorency, while funnelling money to the cardinal de Lorraine.

Catherine reassured the Pope on 20 November, that there was too much at stake for the kingdom, her honour and her salvation to contemplate offering satisfaction to the Protestants.

Fearful of royalist negotiations with the Protestants. On 20 January, Philip II dispatched a courier to offer Catherine one million gold pieces if she would spurn such negotiations.

The Pope, who had learned that the (excommunicated) cardinal de Châtillon had come to the capital, demanded that he be handed over to the Papacy for punishment.

German Aid

Well aware that alone they could not well resist the royal army without foreign soldiers and funds, Protestant representatives were sent into the Holy Roman Empire at the outbreak of the conflict. The Protestant rebel leaders hoped to implement a more coherent and organised foreign policy than they had during the first French War of Religion, where a vast number of representatives (twenty-seven in total) were sent out in an incoherent fashion. Daussy sees by 1567 an evolution in the rebel Protestant diplomatic approach to a more efficient and lean outreach.

The French Protestants were Reformed, as such, they found little sympathy for their cause with the Evangelical Protestant princes of Saxony, Brandenburg, Hesse and Württemberg.

By 1567, the Protestant leadership enjoyed long running relations with various allies. A far smaller number of representatives were sent out than had been during the first war. The agents who were sent out functioned as de facto ambassadors.

The French crown worked hard to characterise the Protestant leadership as rebels, in the hope of dissuading foreign actors from entertaining supporting them. Where the Protestant ambassadors were welcomed, it was in a circumspect fashion, lacking in grandeur.

The Swiss were particularly sensitive to the charge that they might be supporting rebels, and thus support from this quarter very evaporated for the Protestants after the first civil war.

The Protestants secured the military aid of the Elector Palatine, who entrusted his son, John Casimir with providing military support. Casimir would bring to bear 8,000 reiters, and 3,000 landsknechts.

The aid promised to the rebel Protestants by England did not materialise. The lack of financial subsidies from England left the Protestant army in dire fiscal straits by early 1568.

With the Protestants to receive 4,000 German reiters from the Empire, the young duc de Guise stationed himself in Champagne, in the hopes of preventing their entry into the kingdom of France.

In addition to their aid from inside the Empire, further boon came to the Protestant cause by the Protestant armies of Rouergue, Dauphiné and Quercy.

There was concern in the royal camp about the 5,000 reiters that the duke of Saxony was meant to be providing for the king's cause. On route, the duke had made a stop at the territory of his father-in-law, the Count Palatine of the Rhine. It was feared that the duke's father-in-law might have convinced him either to cease his progress, or even worse join with the Count Palatine's son John Casimir and throw his lot in with the Protestants. Charles wrote to his brother, who was leading the royal army in the field, with this fearful news on 1 February.

In addition to the duke of Saxony's reiters, the royal army also looked to receive a force led by a certain Bassompierre (father of the French maréchal de Bassompierre) and the Count Rhinegrave who had won over the margrave of Baden-Baden to the royalist cause in January 1568. The king hoped that the arrival of these forces with Anjou would bolster him sufficiently until the duke of Saxony turned up.

On 23 February, Charles reported to his ambassador in Spain, the baron de Fourquevaux, that 3,000 of the duke of Saxony's reiters had made the crossing over the river Meuse three days previous.

The royalists also received German aid, with 8,000 reiters arriving while the army was sheltering in the capital in early 1568 that had been provided by the duke of Saxony. They also received Italians from Savoy.

Move east

Having abandoned the field of Saint-Denis, the Protestants took refuge first in Montereau. They encamped here until the night of 13-14 November at which they began to move out, destroying a village near Paris as they departed as a show of strength. From here they anticipated the arrival of Protestant forces from Guyenne, Poitou and the German mercenaries of the Elector Palatine. While the army cooled its heels in Montereau, the reinforcements brought by the comte de La Rochefoucauld united with what was left of the Protestant army.

The duc d'Aumale was entrusted with heading into Lorraine by the crown. This was to the end of a dual purpose. Firstly he would unite with the 3,000 German soldiers under the duke of Saxony and the marquis of Baden, and secondly he would block the entry of the Protestant's German mercenaries into the kingdom.

At Châlons, on 21 November, the forces of the maréchal de Cossé skirmished with Condé's soldiers. Cossé did not deploy his cavalry, thereby allowing the Protestants to escape.

While Anjou was still in the capital, the Spanish ambassador Álava came to visit him. Álava offered the complements of king Philip. The young prince expressed his joy to the ambassador that his first taste of war would be to fight the enemies of god and the King.

On 24 November, the duc d'Anjou departed from Paris. He inaugurated his new office as lieutenant-général when he reviewed the Flemish cavalry sent to the kingdom by the duke of Alba. This force was composed of 1,200 lances.

The royal army advanced to Corbeil. Their commander, the duc d'Anjou, was besieged by letters from his mother, advising him to discuss peace proposals that the king had received from the Protestants. Though Anjou was in favour of negotiations, the march eastwards continued. From his base at Corbeil, correspondence from the king dated 25 November assured him reinforcements were being raised to supplement his army.

Three days later, on 28 November, new word came from king Charles to the duc d'Anjou. The king advised his brother to have the two companies of foot soldiers of the seigneur de Puyguillard, as well as the companies of de Cristo and du Bicq all placed under the authority of the count of Martinengo (who commanded the Papal forces afforded to the crown). This would expand Martinengo's authority to covering six companies in total.

As he moved towards Montargis, a place belonging to Renée, daughter of king Louis XII, the duc d'Anjou wrote to his cousin asking her to make sure his men were well provided for with bread during their stay in her territory. He subsequently announced his troops were imminently to arrive on 2 December. Joblin imagines that after the experience of having the royal army move through her territory, Renée asked that the move not be repeated. They cite the pledge of Anjou on 9 February to send no more soldiers through the area as evidence. In a similar fashion, on 22 December, the king had to write to the dowager duchesse to request that she permit the lieutenant-general of Marseille, a certain captain Moulhon, to travel through Montargis with his company on his return to Marseille. In addition to affording him passage, she was to provide an escort.

While Anjou's army was camped at Nemours, the mother-in-law of the prince de Condé, the marquis de Rothelin visited the royal camp. She brought with her the king's proposal for peace, the restoration of the terms of the edict of Amboise. She succeeded in extracting a three day truce from the commander. Catherine meanwhile dispatched the seigneur de Lanssac to the royal army, to gauge her son's intentions with the army.

On 3 December, Anjou was instructed by the court to continue operations. This was a little while after a Protestant peace proposal had been forwarded to his camp for his consideration.

The duke of Alba counselled Catherine to have the chancellor L'Hôpital dismissed from his post. Catherine assured the Spanish ambassador that she would dismiss her chancellor in time, but now was not the appropriate moment.

Despite the best efforts of the duc d'Aumale, cardinal de Lorraine and seigneur de Tavannes, they struggled to impede the progress of the German Protestant mercenaries.

Sometime before 5 December Anjou's army successfully relieved the city of Sens from its siege, and saw to the preservation of Provins and Sézenne. Charles wrote to the duc de Nevers on the matter (as well as those of Layant and Failly) on 7 December, noting that the enemy had 'lost many men there'

On 13 December, Anjou broke camp from Nemours.

The royal army reached Montereau on 14 December, then the next day made for Provins. The Protestant army was near, located at Epernay, where it was still spinning its wheels on 17 December.

The orders to Nevers on 14 December focused on the need for him to go and support the forces of the duc d'Aumale and duc de Guise near Toul in Lorraine, where they would block the entry of the German reiters from entering the kingdom. Nevers protested of the confusion in the orders he was being given, to which the king responded on 16 December by noting that in war, the situation could change hour to hour, and orders must change with the changing circumstances. Charles reiterated that by linking up with d'Aumale, Nevers would be doing him the utmost service.

The king wrote to Anjou, advising him on the money he had sent across for the payment of the royal soldiery. Charles cautioned against waste, noting that he should make sure the Gascons of Monluc and the bands of the seigneur de Sainctorens did not receive double payment.

A few days later, on 21 December, the maréchal de Cossé captured the château de Sarry near Châlons. Seeing themselves at risk of being surrounded by the royalists, Condé and Coligny resolved for the army to take flight in the night. Upon hearing of the Protestant bolting, Anjou ordered the duc d'Aumale and duc de Nevers to rally to him.

Sometime around this point, a certain Guy de Saint-Gelais, son of the seigneur de Lanssac, was captured by the Protestants. This fact was grieved over by the king, who resolved to see him swapped in a prisoner exchange as soon as possible.

The young duc de Guise was overflowing with enthusiasm at the prospect of going after Coligny and preventing his juncture with the German Protestant mercenaries. However, he was bamboozled by a feigned attack against Sens. Seeing, what he believed to be an attack on the city, Guise hurried into the place, hoping to replicate his father's stand at the defence of Metz in 1552. With Guise thus out of the way, Coligny was free to head up the Seine to Bray.

Towards the end of December, the royal army was to be found in Châlons, very close on the heels of the Protestant army. On 23 December, Anjou left Châlons and arrived in Saint-Julien-de-Courtiroles. From here, the royal armies vanguard was only a league away from the rebel Protestant army. Anjou wished to pursue battle, but after taking council, consensus could not be reached on the matter (Catherine had instructed the maréchal de Cossé to oppose giving battle for fear of a royal loss). Nemours was hungry for battle, and raged on the matter, but Cossé would not provide his cavalry for an attack. The Protestant army succeeded in slipping away at Notre-Dame de l'Épine. Catholic anger rose against the maréchal de Cossé after this episode, decrying him as a traitor. The seigneur de Carnavalet, a member of Anjou's council, was similarly derided as being in league with Condé. The duc d'Anjou took Christmas in Vitry-le-François where the royal army was joined by the duc de Nevers, who brought with him Swiss and Italian reinforcements numbering around 13,000. On route to join with Anjou, Nevers' army had captured Mâcon.

Anjou conducted a review of the new troops that Nevers had brought up to the army, with a salvo being fired in his honour, and the troops also undertaking a small skirmish for the occasion.

In a dispatch of 25 December, the Spanish ambassador Álava related to Philip a meeting he had enjoyed with the queen mother Catherine. Catherine undertook discussions with Álava in the Tuileries Garden during which she explained away the current military situation by arguing that the duc d'Anjou was but a child and that the leaders of the army did not wish to proffer battle but were rather taken with negotiating with the enemy. Álava rebuffed this reasoning, arguing that Catherine was to blame for surrounding her son with incompetent men. In his estimation, Cossé was an irrelevancy who she could dismiss if she saw fit, Nemours was too distracted by his love life, and Montpensier was an idiot. He urged her to recall them, and replace them with a man of war like the seigneur de Tavannes. Catherine assured him she would order the duc de Nemours to proffer battle with 4,000 to 5,000 cavalry, and that if he would not give battle she would grant the task to the seigneur de Martigues. She noted that the duc de Nevers, a wise man, would remain with the young prince. Despite these various assurances, Álava remained sceptical of Anjou's army.

The duc d'Anjou dispatched the comte de Brissac with conducting a reconnoitre of Châlons, which proved bountiful. The several Protestant captains who Brissac crossed swords with were defeated. Much of the Protestant soldiery was either captured or killed.

Anjou himself and the main army went to support Nemours and Martigues in their skirmishes, however no battle followed from this engagement.

The king, frustrated at this news, vented his frustrations to his brother in a letter of 4 January. He chastised Anjou for having failed to provide the support to the duc d'Aumale that was required, noting that had reinforcements been provided in the way he suggested, the situation would have developed more favourably for the royalist cause.

Catherine, visited the army in January 1568, and as had been advised by Álava, installed the seigneur de Tavannes with the army. Though as the leader of the vanguard, rather than a replacement for Anjou's current military leadership. A further opportunity from her visit to the front was to be found in meeting with the cardinal de Châtillon.

After his meeting with his mother, Anjou and the army departed from Vitry on 8 January to make towards Troyes.

The Protestant army made its passage across the Meuse at Saint-Mihiel, and then the Moselle at Pont-à-Mousson. The German mercenaries, under the command of John Casimir, numbering some 6,500 reiters, and 3,000 landsknechts could not be impeded in their march across Lorraine, and on 11 January they effected juncture with the Protestant army near Pont-à-Mousson. Before his captains would agree to fight for the rebel Protestants, they wanted to receive their first months pay up front. They demanded to receive 250,000 livres from Condé and Coligny. The Protestant commanders, and pastors, set to work trying to scrounge together this sum from their men. The more wealthy members donated their gold plate, chains and other valuables. In total they succeeded in putting together 80,000 livres. This satisfied the mercenary commanders. The duc d'Anjou reported on this development to the French court. He noted that the Protestant leadership had raised a loan among their own soldiers to pay the mercenaries. That d'Andelot and Coligny had feasted the captains of the reiters at Seuzey. With them they brought a vast quantity of bread (20,000 loaves), and twenty muids of wine.

The Protestant force now numbered around 20,000 men, and could think of turning around to take the fight back into France. In the royal camp it was not known where this reinvigorated army would strike. The duc d'Anjou moved to protect Troyes, from where he might impede the Protestant march into Burgundy. He would headquarter himself in Troyes from 12 January to 5 February. The duc de Nevers meanwhile went to defend Auxerre through establishing himself at Châtillon-sur-Seine. Anjou was appraised around this time, by the maréchal de Vielleville who was established in Metz, that his own German mercenaries, those of the duke of Saxony, had crossed the Rhine on their way into France on 16 January. The duc d'Anjou entrusted a certain Pasquier with greeting these mercenaries and bringing them to unite with the royal army.

With the royal army at risk of being compromised by desertions after a rumour that peace had been made, Charles wrote on 14 January to assure his brother that payment had been prepared for the entire royal gendarmerie, and would arrive on 1 February. Concurrently to this, the king wrote happily that favourable military developments against the Protestants were to be found elsewhere in the kingdom, specifically against the baron d'Acier in Provence.

On 22 January, Anjou requested of his mother Catherine that trials involving officers in his army be suspended until the end of the troubles.

A little while before 24 January, the duc d'Anjou looked to resolve a conflict among his officers. Dispute had arisen between the seigneur de Méru a moderate Catholic open to accommodation with Protestantism and the vicomte de Martigues a zealous Catholic. In this quarrel, Martigues had slapped the seigneur de Méru, and the soldiers of the two men were ready to come to blows. This affair was reported upon by the Spanish ambassador Álava, who knew it would please his king. He noted that with the two men had been in Anjou's presence when a dispute emerged during which Martigues put his hand on his dagger. For the next four days, this poisonous dispute continued to defy attempts at reconciliation.

Over the objections of the Spanish ambassador and the hawkishly pro-war Parisians, Catherine continued to push for negotiations.

Winter campaign

The historian Wood puts the number of soldiers at the French crown's disposal at 100,000 by January 1568. 60,000 of these being concentrated in Champagne.

At the end of January, Charles communicated to his brother the duc d'Anjou that rather than referring matters of payment back to the court, that he resolve himself on the proper distribution of money provided to him by the crown. The king was keen that the expenses of the army be curtailed. He noted that he had previously instructed Anjou to conduct a review of his soldiery, to ensure payment was not being granted to non-existent soldiers. The seigneur de Carnavalet was entrusted by the king with reviewing the armies finances, alongside the maréchal de Cossé (who was formerly the surintendant des finances).

Avoiding the royal army in Troyes, Condé moved south into Burgundy, and crossed the Seine in a place in which it was frozen around Châtillon. Travelling to Auxerre they put the country to ransom. With the Protestants carving a path of destruction, Anjou resolved to fall back from Troyes and shadowt he Protestants. Condé then made west for the Loire. Here he was reinforced by the southern vicomtes (viscounts) de Montclar and de Bruniquel who brought soldiers up from Quercy, Périgord and the Rouergue. His army now numbered around 30,000 men. Linked with these forces, he could set his sights on the city of Chartres. He crossed the Loire around La Charité, entering the Beauce where Blois was seized.(timeline here)

The capture of Blois was overseen by the seigneur de Mauvans, who had come up from the south-west previously. Having secured the cities capitulation, Mauvans did not keep to the agreement he had made with the inhabitants, justifying himself that the Catholics never did so with the Protestants.

The royal army followed in the wake of the Protestant one, moving through devastated country which had been pillaged. It slowly haemorrhaged to desertions. The army withdrew to the south of Paris, arriving at Nogent-sur-Seine. Anjou made for Villeneuve-Saint-Georges to liaise with his mother. This afforded the freedom to the combined French Protestant and German mercenary army to lay siege to Chartres. This city was a source of grain for the capital. In addition to this it housed a great cathedral, the destruction of which could be an ideological victory.

Tours fell to the Protestant rebels.

As Condé's army marched towards Orléans, the cavalry cornets fanned out around Montargis, the Gâtinais and up to the walls of Paris itself. Montargis in particular was felt to be an important place that Condé's army must not be allowed to capture. Charles therefore urged his brother to secure permission from Renée to make passage through the city, and then station men there. Renée was little inclined to depart from the city, so Charles noted on 1 February that it was likely she would not be comfortable there, surrounded by so many men of war. He advised that she withdraw to Vincennes, Fontainebleau, or another place of her choosing.

Not only to Renée refuse to withdraw from Montargis, but she further refused the royal soldiers entry into the city. It had first been the seigneur de Thoré who was entrusted with leading the royal soldiers into the city, but little desiring to anger Renée he refused the charge. It was instead given to the seigneur de Losses and seigneur de Chavigny. Aware his aunt might refuse these men entry, Charles cautioned Anjou to provide for them well so they were not trapped between the walls of Montargis and the Protestant army.

Anjou anticipated the arrival of the German mercenaries of the duke of Saxony, as well as those of the marquis of Baden, who Anjou had been informed by the maréchal de Vielleville, had abandoned his allegiance to John Casimir.

On 6 February, the Protestants captured Blois. The city had been besieged by a Protestant army of 5,000 foot soldiers, 400 cavalry, and four cannon. Prior to seizing Blois they had captured Beaugency. Blois had been defended by the seigneur de Richelieu with 800 men in his garrison. With the fall of Blois, Condé resolved on putting Chartres to siege. Anjou had dispatched a certain La Rivière with arquebusiers to relieve Blois, however, the king observed in a letter of 14 February, that now the city had fallen, these soldiers served no purpose going to Blois and should rather be moved on to aid in the defence of Amboise or Tours.

As the royal army got increasingly close to Paris, the possibility of men slipping away from the army grew. Charles counselled his brother on 13 February to afford as little leave as he could to the nobles, conducting the army with a strict hand. He advised Anjou renew the ban général.

On 18 February, Anjou was at Corbeil with the seigneur de Tavannes, the duc d'Aumale and the seigneur de Martigues. From here, he could see the lights of the Protestant camp fires in the distance. He quickly resolved to return to Paris, entering the city on 19 February. There, he hurried to the Louvre where he was embraced by the king. The duc d'Anjou would establish the royal camp at Chartreux, just outside the walls of Paris.

Coligny billeted his cavalry in the villages that surrounded Chartres, and endeavoured to limit pillage by the provision of bakers.

For the pay of their reiters, 100,000 écus was required. Condé had only 2,000 écus and thus everyone was encouraged to contribute, with the two leaders setting an example by the devotion of their silver plate to the sum. By the time the campaign for funds had been concluded, 90,000 livres worth of gold and silver had been raised.

With the payment of soldiers proving to be difficult, Condé withdrew to Orléans with his Gascon soldiers, no longer able to pose a threat to Paris.

The duc d'Anjou dispatched a certain seigneur de La Valette with eighteen cornets of cavalry. This force was bested by that of the admiral de Coligny, but without many casualties.

Anjou entrusted, on 4 March, the duc d'Aumale to have charge of the royal army in his absence.

On 11 March, the duc d'Anjou wrote to the seigneur de Monluc disapprovingly. He noted that various Gascon captains had deserted the royal army, including a son of Monluc's. He asked that, when these men had travelled back to Gascony, that they be punished.

Initial strike

At the moment of the surprise of Meaux, it was reported that the Protestants were making attempts on the cities of Montereau, Lagny, Péronne, and Melun. Orléans, Auxerre, Soissons and Nîmes were also seized.

Fighting between Protestants and Catholics took place in Orléans, Soissons, Lyon, Abbeville and Troyes.

Paris

In December, the French capital agreed to proffer 1,500,000 livres for the guarding of their ramparts. A further 600,000 livres subsidy was secured by the king in January for the maintenance of the royal army. The capital was traditionally rich in words, that did not follow through into action, making this expression of Catholic devotion a novelty.

The fiercely Catholic city was frustrated at Catherine's pushes towards peace, as illustrated in one episode from 13 January where Catherine was heckled by a Parisian while addressing the king.

Dauphiné

The Protestants in Dauphiné succeeded in seizing cities (Valence, Montélimar, Gap, Die, Romans, and Crest). In this province they were under the leadership of a certain seigneur de Montbrun. Catherine wrote to the lieutenant-général of the province, the baron de Gordes on 29 October to see to the recapture of these places. Unlike in provinces such as Burgundy and Champagne, she held no illusion she could withdraw soldiers form Dauphiné for the fight around the capital.

1,000 cavalry had been provided by the duke of Savoy to support the royal war effort. The French crown resolved to leave these troops to deal with local Dauphiné rebellion, rather than bringing them north to join with the main royal army. Charles wrote to his brother, the duc d'Anjou to explain that he had chosen to leave them with the comte de Tende and comte de Suze instead.

The seigneur de Mauvans, another leading Protestant commander of the south, established his headquarters in Vienne alongside the former archbishop of Aix who had converted to Protestantism. He bested the company of the seigneur de Saint-Aray in battle, and then made north to Orléans, which was under threat at this time.

Languedoc

Condé entrusted the comte de Crussol with taking charge of an uprising in Languedoc. Crussol arrived in his domain of Uzès on 27 September. It would be Crussol's brother, the baron d'Acier who took charge of the rebel Protestant cause in lower Languedoc.

In the city of Nîmes, on 30 September, the Protestants massacred the Catholic notables and ecclesiastics of their city and threw them down the bishop's well. This event became known as the 'Michelade'. The violent action was denounced by the Protestant consistory and the municipality. Nevetheless, Nîmes had declared itself for the Protestant cause.

At Montpellier, Catholics were murdered.

Protestants from Castres, expanded outwards into the Albigeois, killing Catholics and burning down houses as they advanced.

Much of the rebel Protestant movement in upper Languedoc, Quercy and the Rouergue was under the authority of the vicomtes. This included the vicomte de Bruniquel, the vicomte de Caumont and a certain Paulin de Montclar. They gathered together many of the Protestants of the south, before leading them north to the Loire to join with Condé. Under the command of the baron d'Acier, the army, numbering some 4,000, departed from Alès to head north. They crossed the Forez and Auvergne. On 4 January, the army was to be found encamped at Vichy. The royalists attempted to intercept them, but could not prevent the juncture of Acier's force with Condé's army, which was besieging Chartres.

One of the Protestant 'vicomtes', Paulin de Montclar, oversaw the massacre of 100 Catholics at Gaillac.

With word reaching the king that the situation in Languedoc, Provence, the Lyonnais and Dauphiné was proceeding in a negative direction, he ordered the duc d'Anjou peel off from his army the comte de Ventadour and his compagnie. Ventadour enjoyed great authority in these regions, and the king hoped he would be a productive presence in the south.

Dauphiné and the Rhône valley

In some places, Catholics and Protestants agreed to live in peace and good harmony with one another. This was particularly true in the Dauphiné and the Rhône valley. At Vienne on 29 September, Romans the next day, Montélimar another day later and finally Orange on 2 October. The Orange declaration saw the inhabitants swear to their friendship, the continuity of trade, and their adherence to no party.

Lyonnais

With rumours swirling of a planned Protestant uprising in Lyon, the Protestants of the city were put in an awkward position. They resolved to flee Lyon, thereby surrendering control of the consulate to their Catholic neighbours.

Normandy

In Caen, an agreement to maintain cordial relations between Protestants and Catholics was established on 3 October.

Auvergne

In Auvergne and the Bourbonnais, the rebel Protestant movement was commanded by a certain Ponsenac. Ponsenac and his army were routed.

Poitou

In Bas-Poitou, the Protestants took the offensive. First in the manner of raids and exploratory attacks, before escalating to the seizure of the Île de Ré and Marans. In the former place, there were to be found a significant number of fortifications built by the inhabitants. These feats accomplished the Protestants, under the command of a certain Boisseau and Sauvage, moved on Luçon and Sainte-Gemme in the Vendée.

As they advanced, the population took shelter in the church of Luçon. Some royalist soldiers, under the command of a priest also slowed down the Protestant advance. Frustrated by the resistance, the Protestant commanders broke into the church, and slaughtered everyone inside. Luçon was thus captured and looted.

Approximately 20 Protestants then made for Sainte-Gemme, fighting with the Catholics there. A garrison dispatched from La Rochelle succeeded in saving Sainte-Gemme from sharing Luçon's fate.

In Mouilleron-en-Pareds, the sieur de La Roussière oversaw the arrest of a Protestant pastor. This proved to be the spark for pitched battles in the area which transpired from 30 November to 9 December.

In Fontenay and Pouzauges orders were issued for the seizure of Protestant property. These orders were met with counterstrokes.

The church of Cheffois was usurped for the Protestant cause, that of Rochetrejoux was put to the torch.

With the Protestants on the offensive in Poitou and Limousin, the king entrusted the comte d'Escars with heading to the region. The king allowed Escars to extract his compagnie from the royal army to bring with him to the region, with Charles informing his brother Anjou on 3 February that he would be well aware of the need Escars had of it, and that he should provide it with all possible haste.

The king's concern for the development of affairs in Poitou and Anjou only deepened as the days went on. On 10 February he wrote again to Anjou on the subject. He asked that his brother permit the maréchal de Cossé, and his compagnie to make for the region. Charles was conscious the Brissac family (of which Cossé was a member) were well routed in Anjou and thus this was an advantageous choice. He also asked that Anjou permit the chevalier de Monluc, son of the seigneur de Monluc, to join with his father, who had been tasked with reducing La Rochelle to obedience. He would be entrusted with the foot soldiers before the city of La Rochelle.

Touraine

As the Protestant army looked like it might return to Orléans, and from there menace Touraine, the royalist cause in the province was entrusted to the son of the duc de Montpensier, the prince dauphin d'Auvergne. To support d'Auvergne, Charles requested that the duc d'Anjou peal off the company of a certain sieur de Bastresse from his army and dispatch it to Touraine. Having been made aware that losing this company would be to compromise the strength of Anjou's army, the king proposed the next day that instead the baron de Mortemart's company be dispatched.

Aunis

For the city of La Rochelle, Condé instructed a certain Sainte-Hermine to impose Protestantism on the place. On 9 January, the city surrendered to the Protestants. The Catholics were expelled from the city. Unlike other great port cities the rebel Protestants had occupied in the past, such as Le Havre, the Protesants in La Rochelle enjoyed strong support from the hinterlands around the city. Monluc was tasked with its recapture. Without troops provided by the crown, Monluc looked to buy time in the endeavour, claiming the towns were not granting him the men and cannons he required for such an undertaking. According to Monluc, little eagerness for the mission was to be found in Bordeaux, Agen or Toulouse. Frustrated with the Rochelais, Charles wrote to the city on 18 January 1568. His message was brought to the city by the sieur de Plessis. In this message, the king urged the Rochelais to give little credence to the idea their city was to be descended upon by bands of armed soldiers, or that their religious freedom was to be crushed. He urged them to have faith in Plessis as they would the person of the king, and maintain themselves in good obedience to the crown. Monluc continued in his procrastinations, pleading ill health, and by March had still not invested the city. By this time, he was cognisant negotiations between the crown and the Protestant leadership were transpiring.

Having cut short his intended restive break, Monluc was appraised that the Protestants of Bergerac were arming. Shortly before his departure for a hunt on 29 September he received news of the rebel Protestant plan. In this telling the Protestants aimed to kill Catherine and the seigneur de Monluc, kidnap Charles and seize various population centres. Monluc, with a handful of companions hurried for Lectoure. Once there, he dismissed the baron de Fonterailles (whom he distrusted) from charge over the château de Lectoure. A little after the departure of Fonterailles, a host of Protestants arrived outside Lectoure, intending to carry the place. Monluc was able to scare this party off.

From Lectoure, Monluc made for Agen, orders of alert and the replacement of unreliable commanders flowed out. The governor of Guyenne, the young prince de Béarn, reproached the seigneur de Monluc for ordering all these things without appraising him. Monluc ignored this rebuke, retorting that he answered only to Charles IX. The lieutenant-général received from the king an account of events the court had been subject to at Meaux that he disseminated to the sénéchaux, échevins and nobles of the south-west.

Monluc was urged by the court to hurry north, so that he might assist in the protection of the king. He would tarry for a significant time before making the journey however. During the wait he undertook the redistribution of commands, and the assembling of his compagnie. On 9 November, he and his men had made it north to Limoges. He chafed at the slowness with which pay was provided to his host.

A little while later, on 13 November, while he was in Saint-Julien-le-Petit, Monluc was appraised that Bordeaux had been removed from his government, and granted to the comte de Candalle, who assumed the title of lieutenant-général. The Gascon commander exploded when he heard the news, feeling his removal was a great injustice. He flew off ill-tempered letters to Catherine and various great nobles. He would later have to retract them. Claiming he personally had not been ordered to go north, he left his company in the hands of the baron de Terride and left southwards, going via Sainte-Foy and Bordeaux back to Agen. Sournia characterises Monluc's about face as a strategic blunder, arguing he could have enjoyed a role in the aftermath of the royal victory at Saint-Denis on 10 November.

The seigneur de Monluc dispatched a certain Madaillan to Saintes, instructing him to proceed with all hast. Madaillan was to assault the Protestants of Marans if they were still to be found at Saint-Séverin. Monluc ordered Madaillan to follow a policy of offering no quarter, in the hopes such a massacre would instil fear. Madaillan did just this, slaughtering the Protestants of Marans, capturing three flags in the process. In total, at Saint-Seurin the Protestants lost around 500 men.

Monluc then advanced a few days later to Marennes, bringing with him the cavalry company of the seigneur de Merville and part of the baron de Jarnac's company. The rest of Jarnac's company being Protestant had gone to unite with Condé.

In Marennes, Monluc united with the comte de Marennes, the royal governor of Saintonge. Plans were hatched by which the comte de Marennes would be restored to control over his territories of the Île d'Oléron and the Presqu'île d'Arvert (peninsula d'Arvert).

To return the Île de Ré to the royal fold, a certain Lebéron, a nephew of the seigneur de Monluc, was dispatched with 500 arquebusiers. This force set sail from Brouage, fighting the wind as they made their progress, as well as the islanders who tried to prevent their landing. Initially the expedition foundered. The force thus took a roundabout route, landing on the other side of the Île. Having successfully landed, the royal force marched on the largest fortification, first surrounding it, and then winning it. All those found there were killed, as Monluc had instructed. Much as Monluc had anticipated, fear quickly gripped the rest of the islanders, who abandoned the other fortifications Lebéron had yet to seize, departing for La Rochelle.

Champagne

Catholic troops fanned out through Champagne and Brie. They assumed occupying garrisons in the various Protestant fortified houses ahd château of the territory. Protestant children were forcibly converted to Catholicism.

Orléannais

The Protestant commander La Noue took Orléans by surprise on 28 September. The city resumed its role as a capital for the Protestant cause, with soldiers converging there from the various provinces of the kingdom.

The new Protestant regime committed atrocities in Orléans, including causing the collapse of part of the cities Cathedral.

Picardy

In the border province of Picardy, the soldiers of the sieur de Genlis carved a path of destruction through the Soissons area.

The Catholic refuge of Boulogne was subject to sacks by Flemish Protestants from October onwards. Catholic worship would cease there for six months.

Angoumois

The Protestants succeeded in reducing Angoulême. Vray notes that the city had a reputation for impregnability, and before this point had never been captured by military force. The city surrendered to the Protestants under terms, that the soldiers could leave under arms, and the gentlemen with their horses. Condé established the seigneur de Saint-Memme as his governor for Angoulême.

Provence

As they had during the first French War of Religion, many of the Protestants of Provence fled to the city of Sisteron where they took refuge. They were pursued by the royalists of Provence.

In Marseille during November 1567, the property of Protestants who had fled the city was subject to confiscation. Many Protestants had fled from the city to take refuge in Geneva.

Guyenne

Monluc entrusted the Spanish Bardaxí (the liaison he used for his Spanish contacts) with raising 600 foot from the comté de Comminges and Asterac.

Move to peace

Various difficulties necessitated a push for peace. Money was running low, famine loomed, and disease ran rampant. This paucity of money was as true for Condé and the rebels as it was for the crown.

No sooner had the battle of Saint-Denis transpired, than Téligny, and then a certain Gastines, were dispatched to Paris to begin negotiations with the crown on 13 November. Téligny was to impart that the Protestants would only lay down their arms if persecution of Protestantism ceased, and the edict of pacification was fully observed. Charles refused to negotiate on these terms, noting that if they wished to demonstrate their loyalty, they would disarm. The Protestant proposals were forwarded by Charles IX to Anjou's camp for discussion. Anjou received them while he was in Nemours. Both Anjou and his council were of the opinion that, given the present circumstances of the kingdom, the Protestant demands should be acceded to. The lieutenant-general gave his reply to the court on 29 November. In this opinion he argued that they should consent to the requests for those who enjoyed the rights of high justice in their land to enjoy Protestant worship among their households and those who gather with them.

Catherine was keen to restore the primacy of civic authority over military, and thus was interested in peace also. Catherine's first proposal was to offer freedom of religion for those who enjoyed the rights of high justice for their families and 50 others. With the crown's openness to offers thus demonstrated, Condé expanded his demands, requesting the rights for Protestant worship to take place in Paris and Lyon.

Condé entrusted the cardinal de Châtillon with furthering the negotiations to attain some clarity on points. It was agreed there would be a truce while Téligny made his way to the court, but the duc d'Anjou violated this truce. Negotiations continued with Téligny serving as the messenger between the court and the rebel camp.

The Protestant nobles (like their Catholic counterparts) were eager to fight, and had to be soothed by Condé and Coligny from their passions.

While Catherine's prime ambition was peace, her son, the king, held a more rigid position. He would only offer a pardon to the Protestant rebels if their demands did not exceed those enunciated in the 1563 edict of Amboise. On the matter of Protestant worship in Lyon he rejected the proposition. He explained to his brother Anjou in a letter of 4 December that not only was Lyon a border city, but the people of the place would also reject Protestant worship there. Charles was also adverse to the Protestants having a place in the judiciary or financial administration.

In a letter to the French ambassador to Spain, the baron de Fourquevaux, written on 6 December, Charles explained his munificence. Even though the Protestant rebels had gone as far as to attack his own person, he preferred to receive them with kindness, if only they were prepared to be good subjects of the crown once more.

During January, Catherine met with the cardinal de Châtillon at Châlons, where the royal army was headquartered. The two negotiated at length. Catherine and the cardinal de Châtillon then proceeded back towards Paris.

Châtillon took up residence at the château de Vincennes alongside Téligny and the comte de La Rochefoucauld on 15 January. Catherine brought them over to discuss peace at the Louvre during the night. Charles refused to grant them an audience. Nevertheless, the parties talked for three hours. After three days at Vincennes without further talks, on 17 January, Châtillon was met by the seigneur de Lanssac and the bishop of Orléans who stated they were there to continue negotiations. This was to the Cardinal's surprise, as he had hoped to negotiate directly with the king. This discussion did not further the negotiations.

To the anger of Châtillon, on 18 January, Lanssac and the bishop of Orléans were replaced by the first and second présidents of the Paris parlement (de Thou and Baillet). He found the turnover in negotiators vexing. Two days more negotiations continued with no progress.

Finally, Catherine summoned the cardinal de Châtillon to the convent of Minimes.

Châtillon demanded that any pacification edict be permanent, as opposed to provisional. That the Protestant mercenaries be paid off by the crown, and that it be acknowledged in the registers of the parlement that the Protestant uprising had not been a rebellion but rather a necessary act. While Catherine might have been inclined to accept this, her son was not. In contrast to this, the starting point for the king was that the Protestants unilaterally disarm. He further demanded that the Protestant leaders come to him to explain the act they had undertaken against him at Meaux. With the Protestant position unacceptable to the crown, that evening the seigneur de Lanssac and bishop of Orléans went to the château de Vincennes to inform the cardinal. They explained the king could not consent to the edict being irrevocable, or to pay off the Protestant mercenaries. The cardinal de Châtillon asked to take his leave, feeling further talks were pointless in the current impass, and this was granted.

A rumour spread through the royal army around mid-January, that peace had been reached between the rebel Protestants and the crown. Keen to avoid this rumour leading to desertions, king Charles wrote to express his confusion at the news, urging the duc d'Anjou to ensure this false report did not continue to spread.

Sournia believed Condé to be in a position of great strength, with Chartres soon to fall to him, and after that Paris at his mercy. He thus attributes his drive towards peace as a sign of his poor negotiation abilities.

From his new base at Orléans, Condé made a plea to Charles and Catherine on 22 February to bring the disastrous war to an end.

On 25 February, negotiations resumed at Longjumeau between the cardinal de Châtillon and maréchal de Montmorency. Condé was prepared to compromise. Coligny was less inclined to, desiring security to prevent Catherine revenging herself on them for the surprise of Meaux. On 4 March, Charles consented to the re-establishment of the edict of Amboise as well as the royal payment of the Protestant mercenaries.

Charles fumed to his negotiators on 4 March that Condé had put Chartres to siege while the royal army was under a truce. In his letter to the bishop of Limoges he requested his representative impart the king's displeasure to the cardinal de Châtillon and those around him, so that they might put a halt to the siege of Chartres.

On 11 March, a truce was established between the rebel Protestants and the crown.

Longjumeau

The war was brought to a close by the peace of Longjumeau, signed by the maréchal de Montmorency for the crown on 22 March and then Condé and Coligny on 23 March 1568. Its terms offered essentially a repeat of those of the edict of Amboise from five years previous. Notably however, Provence found itself included in the terms of the peace as regarded the toleration of Protestantism. A general amnesty was afforded to the Protestant rebels. The crown even agreed to pay off the German mercenaries that the Protestants had hired. Both sides were to disengage their forces from one another and disarm immediately. Condé was amnestied for having undertaken unofficial embassies with foreign realms, as well as his minting of money, fortification of towns and manufacture of artillery. No places of surety were granted to the Protestants, who would have to rely on the good faith of the crown.

This peace was the first to describe the Protestants as being of 'the so called reformed religion' (in French "La Religion prétendue réformée". In prior times they had been referred to as 'the religion they say is reformed'. Le Roux characterises this stylistic change as one that was more insulting towards Protestantism, and notes that it would become the standard royal characterisation of Protestantism going forward.

As it had been with Amboise, Protestantism was prohibited in the city, prévôté (provostship) and vicomté (viscounty) of Paris.

Even though they had accepted the peace, the French crown no longer had faith in the policy of toleration that had been advocated by the chancellor L'Hôpital.

On 25 March, the peace was registered by the parlement of Paris.

The king expressed his pleasure at the peace to his negotiators on 27 March.

Less than a week later, on 31 March, Charles received a delegation of Protestants at the Carthusian convent who had come to offer their submission.

Charles now owed the reiters the Protestants had raised in the Empire around 1,000,000 livres. He would have to indicate also that the Count Palatine's son had been transferred into royal service. If paid, they promised to leave the kingdom within fifteen days. During March, Charles attempted to raise this sum from Paris. To achieve this, he imposed a contribution upon them amounting to 1,400,000 livres. The advances he received by this means allowed for the removal from the kingdom of Condé's reiters, the royal mercenaries from Saxony, the soldiers of the duke of Savoy, and those of the count of Arenberg. Charles also looked to the city of Caen, which boasted a large amount of royal money. A loan was also to be imposed on the baillage of Caen. Even before Longjumeau was signed, he had looked to see the money transferred from this place, and these efforts continued after peace was declared. The seigneur de Matignon was to ensure the money's escort from Caen to Rouen, and then from Rouen to Paris it would be the job of the seigneur de Carrouges or duc d'Aumale.

The reiters were to make their departure through the province of Burgundy. Companies of gendarmes were sent to the province to watch over their departure. In a letter to the seigneur de Tavannes, it was advised that the gendarmes were to ensure the speedy and orderly withdrawal of the reiters. To ensure the gendarmes obeyed Tavannes, the king advertised that he had written to them also.

The regular components of the royal army would not disband. Neither would the Swiss forces of 6,000 men the crown had raised. This gave the king great leverage over the prince de Condé and the Protestants, who had disarmed. The non-Swiss mercenaries would be slowly divested by the crown however. Further, new companies that had been established during the civil war were to be disbanded by the crown, and garrisons reduced to their pre-war size.

The duc d'Anjou maintained his position as lieutenant-general of the kingdom despite the coming of peace.

The soldiery would indeed continue to cause mayhem and destruction against the French people. Hoping to ameliorate this, the king ordered, on 31 March, the redistribution of the compagnies d'ordonnance around the kingdom in such a way that they would be lodged in convenient places, where they did not burden the people.

On 8 April, the duc d'Anjou wrote to the lieutenant-général of Normandy, the seigneur de Matignon to ensure that he did his best to stop some disbanded troops from descending into brigandage in his province. Alongside his brother, the king also wrote to Matignon on the same theme, urging him to ensure the roads were cleared of soldiers, and the people able to go about their business without fear of being robbed. He advised Matignon approach the scaling down of the companies with tact, so that the disbanded troops did not engage in worse acts than they had while raised.

The Catholics rejected the peace negotiated at Longjumeau, judging it as a victory for the Protestants. The peace aroused the disgust of the Spanish crown.

The butler of the prince de Condé, a certain sieur de Rapin, who brought word of the peace to the parlement of Toulouse, was executed. Rouen also bore witness to anti-Protestant attacks and pillage when word arrived of the peace. Meanwhile in Blois, Protestants sacked churches.

In Amiens, religious violence followed the peace. After a Protestant roofer acted in a 'provocative manner' during easter time, the Catholics of the parish of Saint-Rémy descended on the Protestants of the area, killing between 150 and 160 of them.

The Protestants felt little hurry in the returning of towns they had seized during the war to royal control.

La Rochelle received a royal governor as part of the peace, the baron de Jarnac however, the Protestant population would afford him no power. Jarnac was not allowed to bring his soldiers within the walls. Similar stories played out in Montauban, Nîmes, Montpellier, Castres, Albi and Sancerre.

In general terms, Pernot argues the peace was disregarded by both Protestants and Catholics in places in which they enjoyed relative strength. Murder and leagues proliferated despite the prohibitions of the peace. Condé claimed that 4,000 were murdered in total.

Condé won himself few Protestant friends by the terms of the peace. He was accused of being too credulous in his willingness to trust the word of the king. Spurning him, Protestants turned towards the queen of Navarre. The contemporary memoirist La Noue argues that while Condé was credulous enough to believe in the peace, Coligny did not. The Venetian ambassador opined on 31 March that the peace had only been concluded so that both sides might 'catch their breath'.

Notes

^α Lhoumeau mistakenly places this diplomatic mission in February 1563, however he notes that it was shortly followed by the treaty of Troyes, which occurred in April 1564, and more recent scholarship confirms this meeting in fact occurred in 1564.

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