A Popular History of France from the Earliest Times, Volume 5

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The Project Gutenberg EBook of A Popular History of France From The Earliest Times, by Francois Pierre Guillaume Guizot

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Title: A Popular History of France From The Earliest Times  Volume V. of VI.

Author: Francois Pierre Guillaume Guizot

Release Date: April 8, 2004 [EBook #11955]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ASCII

*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HISTORY OF FRANCE, V5 ***

Produced by David Widger

HISTORY OF FRANCE

BY GUIZOT

VOLUME V.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

CHAPTER XXXV.HENRY IV., PROTESTANT KING. (1589-1593.) CHAPTER XXXVI.HENRY IV., CATHOLIC KING. (1593-1610.) CHAPTER XXXVII.REGENCY OF MARY DE' MEDICI. (1610-1617.) CHAPTER XXXVIII. LOUIS XIII., CARDINAL RICHELIEU, AND THE COURT. CHAPTER XXXIX.LOUIS XIII., CARDINAL RICHELIEU, AND THE PROVINCES. CHAPTER XL.LOUIS XIII., RICHELIEU--CATHOLICS AND PROTESTANTS. CHAPTER XLI.S.LOUIS XIII., CARDINAL RICHELIEU, AND FOREIGN AFFAIR

CHAPTER XII. CHAPTER XLIII. CHAPTER XLIV. CHAPTER XLV. CHAPTER XLVI. CHAPTER XLVII. CHAPTER XLVIII.

LOUIS XIII., RICHELIEU, AND LITERATURE. LOUIS XIV., THE FRONDE--CARDINAL MAZARIN. LOUIS XIV., HIS WARS AND HIS CONQUESTS. 1661-1697. LOUIS XIV., HIS WARS AND HIS REVERSES. (1697-1713.) LOUIS XIV. AND HOME ADMINISTRATION. LOUIS XIV. AND RELIGION. LOUIS XIV., LITERATURE AND ART.

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

Henry IV.——11

Sully——37

Henry IV. At Ivry——26

Rosny Castle——30

"Do Not Lose Sight of My White Plume."— —30

Alexander Farnese, Duke of Parma——32

Charles de Lorraine, Duke of Mayenne— —35

Lemaitre, Mayenne, and the Archbishop of Lyons——53

Henry IV.'s Abjuration——56

The Castle of Monceaux——91

The Castle of St. Germain in the Reign Of Henry IV.—107

The Castle of Fontainbleau——124

Gabrielle D'estrees—130

Henry IV. And his Ministers——138

The Arsenal in the Reign of Henry IV.— —143

Marie de Medicis——147

Concini, Leonora Galigai, and Mary De' Medici——149

Louis XIII. And Albert de Luynes——154

Murder of Marshal D'Ancre——155

Richelieu——180

Double Duel——188

"Tapping With his Window-pane."——191

Henry, Duke of Castelnaudary——199

Finger-tips on the

Montmorency,

The King and the Cardinal——204

at

Cinq-Mars and Execution——215

de

Thou

The Parliament of Paris —217

The Barefoots——221

Going

to

Reprimanded—

The Abbot of St. Cyran——234

Demolishing the Fortifications——244

The Harbor of La Rochelle—-248

The King and Richelieu at La Rochelle— —250

John Guiton's Oath——254

The Defile of Suza Pass——278

Richelieu and Father Joseph——280

Gustavus Adolphus——282

Death of Gustavus and his Page——290

The Palais-Cardinal——305

The Tomb of Richelieu——308

Descartes at Amsterdam——316

The King's Press——323

Peter Corneille——334

The Representation of "The Cid."——335

Corneille at the Hotel Rambouillet—-342

Louis XIV.——344

The Great Conde——348

Arrest of Broussel——352

Cardinal de Retz——352

"Ah, Wretch, if Thy Father Saw Thee!"— —354

President Mole——355

The Great Mademoiselle——373

Anne of Austria and Cardinal Mazarin— —394

Death of Mazarin.——399

Fouquet——404

Colbert——405

Vaux Le Vicomte——405b

Louis XIV. Dismissing Fouquet——407

Louvois——411

William III., Prince of Orange——434

The Brothers Witt——436

Death of Turenne——443

Turenne.——444

An Exploit of John Bart's——446

Duquesne Victorious over Ruyter—446a

Marshal Luxembourg—461

Heinsius——461

Battle of St. Vincent 465a

The Battle of Neerwinden——465

"Here is the King of Spain."——475

News for William III.——481

Bivouac of Louis XIV.——503

The Grand Dauphin——505

Marshal Villars and Prince Eugene——512

Marly——525

Colonnade of the Louvre 525a

Versailles—526

Vauban——534

Misery of the Peasantry——543

The Torture of the Huguenots—552

Revocation of the Edict Of Nantes——556

Death of Roland the Camisard——569

Abbey of Port-Royal——580

Reading the Decree 581

Bossuet——591

Blaise Pascal——597

Fenelon and the Duke of Burgundy——610

La Rochefoucauld and his Fair Friends— —629

La Bruyere——633

Corneille Reading to Louis XIV.——642

Racine——646

Boileau-Despreaux——650

La Fontaine, Boileau, Moliere, and Racine— —657

Moliere——664

Death of Moliere——669

Lebrun——674

Le Poussin and Claude Lorrain——675

Lesueur——676

Mignard 677

Perrault 678

A POPULAR HISTORY OF FRANCE

FROM THE EARLIEST TIMES.

CHAPTER XXXV.

HENRY IV., PROTESTANT KING. (1589-1593.)

On the 2d of August, 1589, in the morning, upon his arrival in his quarters at Meudon, Henry of Navarre was saluted by the Protest ants King of France. They were about five thousand in an army of forty thousand men. When, at ten o'clock, he entered the camp of the Catholics a t St. Cloud, three of their principal leaders, Marshal d'Aumont, and Sires d'Hu mieres and de Givry, immediately acknowledged him unconditionally, as th ey had done the day before at the death-bed of Henry III., and they at once set to work to conciliate to him the noblesse of Champagne, Picardy, and Ile- de-France. "Sir," said Givry, "you are the king of the brave; you will be deserted by none but dastards." But the majority of the Catholic leaders received him with such expressions as, "Better die than endure a Huguenot king!" One of them, Francis d'O, formally declared to him that the time had come for him to choose between the insignificance of a King of Navarre and the grandeur of a King of France; if he pretended to the crown, he must first of all abjure. Henry firmly rejected these threatening entreaties, and left the ir camp with an urgent recommendation, to them to think of it well before bringing dissension into the royal army and the royal party which were protectin g their privileges, their property, and their lives against the League. On re turning to his quarters, he noticed the arrival of Marshal de Biron, who pressed him to lay hands without delay upon the crown of France, in order to guard i t and save it. But, in the evening of that day and on the morrow, at the numerous meetings of the lords to deliberate upon the situation, the ardent Cathol ics renewed their demand for the exclusion of Henry from the throne if he di d not at once abjure, and for referring the election of a king to the states-gene ral. Biron himself proposed not to declare Henry king, but to recognize him merely as captain-general of the army pending his abjuration. Harlay de Sancy vi gorously maintained the cause of the Salic law and the hereditary rights of monarchy. Biron took him aside and said, "I had hitherto thought that you ha d sense; now I doubt it. If, before securing our own position with the King of N avarre, we completely establish his, he will no longer care for us. The time is come for making our terms; if we let the occasion escape us, we shall n ever recover it." "What are your terms?" asked Sancy. "If it please the king to give me the countship of Perigord, I shall be his forever." Sancy reported this conversation to the king, who promised Biron what he wanted.

Though King of France for but two days past, Henry IV. had already perfectly understood and steadily taken the measure of the situation. H e was in a great minority throughout the country as well as the army, and he would have to deal with public passions, worked by his fo es for their own ends, and with the personal pretensions of his partisans. He made no mistake about these two facts, and he allowed them great weight; but he did not take for the ruling principle of his policy and for his first ru le of conduct the plan of alternate concessions to the different parties and of continually humoring personal interests; he set his thoughts higher, upo n the general and natural interests of France as he found her and saw her. Th ey resolved themselves,

in his eyes, into the following great points: maint enance of the hereditary rights of monarchy, preponderance of Catholics in t he government, peace between Catholics and Protestants, and religious li berty for Protestants. With him these points became the law of his policy and h is kingly duty, as well as the nation's right. He proclaimed them in the first words that he addressed to the lords and principal personages of state assembl ed around him. "You all know," said he, "what orders the late king my predecessor gave me, and what he enjoined upon me with his dying breath. It was c hiefly to maintain my subjects, Catholic or Protestant, in equal freedom, until a council, canonical, general, or national, had decided this great dispute. I promised him to perform faithfully that which he bade me, and I regard it a s one of my first duties to be as good as my word. I have heard that some who are in my army feel scruples about remaining in my service unless I embrace the Catholic religion. No doubt they think me weak enough for them to imagine that they can force me thereby to abjure my religion and break my word. I am very glad to inform them here, in presence of you all, that I would rather this were the last day of m y life than take any step which might cause me to be suspected of having dreamt of renouncing the religion that I sucked in with my mother's milk, before I have been better instructed by a lawful co uncil, to whose authority I bow in advance. Let him who thinks so ill of me get him gone as soon as he pleases; I lay more store by a hundred good Frenchmen than by two hundred who could harbor sentiments so unworthy. Besides, t hough you should abandon me, I should have enough of friends left to enable me, without you and to your shame, with the sole assistance of thei r strong arms, to maintain the rights of my authority. But were I doomed to se e myself deprived of even that assistance, still the God who has preserved me from my infancy, as if by His own hand, to sit upon the throne, will not abandon me. I nothing doubt that He will uphold me where He has placed me, not for l ove of me, but for the salvation of so many souls who pray, without ceasin g, for His aid, and for whose freedom He has deigned to make use of my arm. You know that I am a Frenchman and the foe of all duplicity. For the sev enteen years that I have been King of Navarre, I do not think that I have ever departed from my word. I beg you to address your prayers to the Lord on my b ehalf, that He may enlighten me in my views, direct my purposes, bless my endeavors. And in case I commit any fault or fail in any one of my duties,—for I acknowledge that I am a man like any other,—pray Him to give me grac e that I may correct it, and to assist me in all my goings."

On the 4th of August, 1589, an official manifesto o f Henry IV.'s confirmed the ideas and words of this address. On the same da y, in the camp at St. Cloud, the majority of the princes, dukes, lords, a nd gentlemen present in the camp expressed their full adhesion to the accession and the manifesto of the king, promising him "service and obedience against rebels and enemies who would usurp the kingdom." T w o notable leaders, the Duke of Epernon amongst the Catholics, and the Duke of La Tremoille amongst the Protestants, refused to join in this adhesion; the former saying that his conscience would not permit him to serve a heretic king, the latter alleging that his conscience forbade him to serve a prince w ho engaged to protect Catholic idolatry. They withdrew, D'Epernon into An goumois and Saintonge, taking with him six thousand foot and twelve thousa nd horse; and La Tremoille into Poitou, with nine battalions of Refo rmers. They had an idea of