Part 16

This was not the general opinion of the Catholic world. In Spain and Italy, where hearts were hardened and consciences corrupted by the Inquisition; in Switzerland, where the Catholics lived in suspicion and dread of their Protestant neighbours; among ecclesiastical princes in Germany, whose authority waned as fast as their subjects abjured their faith, the massacre was welcomed as an act of Christian fortitude. But in France itself the great mass of the people was struck with consternation.[160] "Which maner of proceedings," writes Walsingham on the 13th of September, "is by the Catholiques themselves utterly condemned, who desire to depart hence out of this country, to quit themselves of this strange kind of government, for that they see here none can assure themselves of either goods or life." Even in places still steeped in mourning for the atrocities suffered at the hands of Huguenots during the civil war, at Nîmes, for instance, the King's orders produced no act of vengeance. At Carcassonne, the ancient seat of the Inquisition, the Catholics concealed the Protestants in their houses.[161] In Provence, the news from Lyons and the corpses that came down in the poisoned waters of the Rhone awakened nothing but horror and compassion.[162] Sir Thomas Smith wrote to Walsingham that in England "the minds of the most number are much alienated from that nation, even of the very Papists."[163] At Rome itself Zuñiga pronounced the treachery of which the French were boasting unjustifiable, even in the case of heretics and rebels;[164] and it was felt as an outrage to public opinion when the murderer of Coligny was presented to the Pope.[165] The Emperor was filled with grief and indignation. He said that the King and Queen-mother would live to learn that nothing could have been more iniquitously contrived or executed: his uncle Charles V., and his father Ferdinand, had made war on the Protestants, but they had never been guilty of so cruel an act.[166] At that moment Maximilian was seeking the crown of Poland for his son; and the events in France were a weapon in his hands against his rival, Anjou. Even the Czar of Muscovy, Ivan the Terrible, replying to his letters, protested that all Christian princes must lament the barbarous and needless shedding of so much innocent blood. It was not the rivalry of the moment that animated Maximilian. His whole life proves him to have been an enemy of violence and cruelty; and his celebrated letter to Schwendi, written long after, shows that his judgment remained unchanged. It was the Catholic Emperor who roused the Lutheran Elector of Saxony to something like resentment of the butchery in France.[167]

For the Lutherans were not disposed to recognise the victims of Charles IX. as martyrs for the Protestant cause. During the wars of religion Lutheran auxiliaries were led by a Saxon prince, a margrave of Baden, and other German magnates, to aid the Catholic forces in putting down the heresy of Calvin. These feelings were so well known that the French Government demanded of the Duke of Wirtemberg the surrender of the Huguenots who had fled into his dominions.[168] Lutheran divines flattered themselves at first with the belief that it was the Calvinistic error, not the Protestant truth, that had invited and received the blow.[169] The most influential of them, Andreæ, declared that the Huguenots were not martyrs but rebels, who had died not for religion but sedition; and he bade the princes beware of the contagion of their spirit, which had deluged other lands with blood. When Elizabeth proposed a league for the defence of Protestantism, the North German divines protested against an alliance with men whose crime was not only religious error but blasphemous obstinacy, the root of many dreadful heresies. The very proposal, they said, argued a disposition to prefer human succour rather than the word of God.[170] When another invitation came from Henry of Navarre, the famous divine Chemnitz declared union with the disciples of Calvin a useless abomination.[171]

The very men whose own brethren had perished in France were not hearty or unanimous in execrating the deed.[172] There were Huguenots who thought that their party had brought ruin on itself, by provoking its enemies, and following the rash counsels of ambitious men.[173] This was the opinion of their chief, Theodore Beza, himself. Six weeks before, he wrote that they were gaining in numbers but losing in quality, and he feared lest, after destroying superstition, they should destroy religion: "Valde metuo ne superstitioni successerit impietas."[174] And afterwards he declared that nobody who had known the state of the French Protestants could deny that it was a most just judgment upon them.[175]

Beza held very stringent doctrines touching the duty of the civil magistrate to repress religious error. He thought that heresy is worse than murder, and that the good of society requires no crime to be more severely punished.[176] He declared toleration contrary to revealed religion and the constant tradition of the Church, and taught that lawful authority must be obeyed, even by those whom it persecutes. He expressly recognised this function in Catholic States, and urged Sigismund not to rest until he had got rid of the Socinians in Poland;[177] but he could not prevail against the vehement resistance of Cardinal Hosius. It was embarrassing to limit these principles when they were applied against his own Church. For a moment Beza doubted whether it had not received its death-blow in France. But he did not qualify the propositions which were open to be interpreted so fatally,[178] or deny that his people, by their vices, if not by their errors, had deserved what they had suffered.

The applause which greeted their fate came not from the Catholics generally, nor from the Catholics alone. While the Protestants were ready to palliate or excuse it, the majority of the Catholics who were not under the direct influence of Madrid or Rome recognised the inexpiable horror of the crime. But the desire to defend what the Pope approved survived sporadically, when the old fierceness of dogmatic hatred was extinct. A generation passed without any perceptible change in the judgment of Rome. It was a common charge against De Thou that he had condemned the blameless act of Charles IX. The blasphemies of the Huguenots, said one of his critics, were more abominable than their retribution.[179] His History was put on the Index; and Cardinal Barberini let him know that he was condemned because he not only favoured Protestants to the detriment of Catholics, but had even disapproved the Massacre of St. Bartholomew.[180] Eudæmon-Johannes, the friend of Bellarmine, pronounces it a pious and charitable act, which immortalised its author.[181] Another Jesuit, Bompiani, says that it was grateful to Gregory, because it was likely to relieve the Church.[182] The well-known apology for Charles IX. by Naudé is based rather on political than religious grounds; but his contemporary Guyon, whose History of Orleans is pronounced by the censors full of sound doctrine and pious sentiment, deems it unworthy of Catholics to speak of the murder of heretics as if it were a crime, because, when done under lawful authority, it is a blessed thing.[183] When Innocent XI. refused to approve the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes, Frenchmen wondered that he should so far depart from the example which was kept before him by one of the most conspicuous ornaments of his palace.[184] The old spirit was decaying fast in France, and the superb indignation of Bossuet fairly expresses the general opinion of his time. Two works were published on the medals of the Popes, by a French and an Italian writer. The Frenchman awkwardly palliates the conduct of Gregory XIII.; the Italian heartily defends it.[185] In Italy it was still dangerous ground. Muratori shrinks from pronouncing on the question,[186] while Cienfuegos, a Jesuit whom his Order esteemed one of the most distinguished Cardinals of the day, judges that Charles IX. died too soon for his fame.[187] Tempesti, who lived under the enlightened rule of Benedict XIV., accuses Catherine of having arrested the slaughter, in order that some cause should remain to create a demand for her counsels.[188] The German Jesuit Biner and the Papal historian Piatti, just a century ago, are among the last downright apologists.[189]

Then there was a change. A time came when the Catholics, having long relied on force, were compelled to appeal to opinion. That which had been defiantly acknowledged and defended required to be ingeniously explained away. The same motive which had justified the murder now prompted the lie. Men shrank from the conviction that the rulers and restorers of their Church had been murderers and abetters of murder, and that so much infamy had been coupled with so much zeal. They feared to say that the most monstrous of crimes had been solemnly approved at Rome, lest they should devote the Papacy to the execration of mankind. A swarm of facts were invented to meet the difficulty: The victims were insignificant in number; they were slain for no reason connected with religion; the Pope believed in the existence of the plot; the plot was a reality; the medal is fictitious; the massacre was a feint concerted with the Protestants themselves; the Pope rejoiced only when he heard that it was over.[190] These things were repeated so often that they have been sometimes believed; and men have fallen into this way of speaking whose sincerity was unimpeachable, and who were not shaken in their religion by the errors or the vices of Popes. Möhler was pre-eminently such a man. In his lectures on the history of the Church, which were published only last year,[191] he said that the Catholics, as such, took no part in the massacre; that no cardinal, bishop, or priest shared in the councils that prepared it; that Charles informed the Pope that a conspiracy had been discovered; and that Gregory made his thanksgiving only because the King's life was saved.[192] Such things will cease to be written when men perceive that truth is the only merit that gives dignity and worth to history.

FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote 6: _North British Review_, Oct. 1869.]

[Footnote 7: Satius fore ducebam, si minus profligari possent omnes, ut ferrentur omnes, quo mordentes et comedentes invicem, consumerentur ab invicem (Hosius to Karnkowsky, Feb. 26, 1568).]

[Footnote 8: The Secretary of Medina Celi to Çayas, June 24, 1572 (_Correspondance de Philippe II._, ii. 264).]

[Footnote 9: Quant à ce qui me touche à moy en particulier, encores que j'ayme unicquement tous mes enffans, je veulx préférer, comme il est bien raysonnable, les filz aux filles; et pour le regard de ce que me mandez de celluy qui a faict mourir ma fille, c'est chose que l'on ne tient point pour certaine, et où elle le seroit, le roy monsieur mondit filz n'en pouvoit faire la vengence en l'estat que son royaulme estoit lors; mais à présent qu'il est tout uni, il aura assez de moien et de forces pour sen ressentir quant l'occasion s'en présentera (Catherine to Du Ferrier, Oct. 1, 1572; Bib. Imp. F. Fr. 15,555). The despatches of Fourquevaulx from Madrid, published by the Marquis Du Prat in the _Histoire d' Elisabeth de Valois_, do not confirm the rumour.]

[Footnote 10: Toutes mes fantaisies sont bandées pour m'opposer à la grandeur des Espagnols, et délibère m'y conduire le plus dextrement qu'il me sera possible (Charles IX. to Noailles, May 2, 1572; Noailles, _Henri de Valois_, i. 8).]

[Footnote 11: Il fault, et je vous prie ne faillir, quand bien il seroit du tout rompu, et que verriés qu'il n'y auroit nulle espérance, de trouver moyen d'en entrettenir toujours doucement le propos, d'ici à quelque temps; car cella ne peut que bien servir à establir mes affaires et aussy pour ma réputation (Charles IX. to La Mothe, Aug. 9, 1572; _Corr. de La Mothe_, vii. 311).]

[Footnote 12: This is stated both by his mother and by the Cardinal of Lorraine (Michelet, _La Ligue_, p. 26).]

[Footnote 13: In reliqua Gallia fuit et est incredibilis defectio, quae tamen usque adeo non pacavit immanes illas feras, ut etiam eos qui defecerunt (qui pene sunt innumerabiles) semel ad internecionem una cum integris familiis trucidare prorsus decreverint (Beza, Dec. 3, 1572; _Ill. vir. Epp. Sel._, p. 621, 1617).]

[Footnote 14: Languet to the Duke of Saxony, Nov. 30, 1572 (_Arcana_, sec. xvi. 183).]

[Footnote 15: Vidi et cum dolore intellexi lanienam illam Gallicam perfidissimam et atrocissimam plurimos per Germaniam ita offendisse, ut jam etiam de veritate nostrae Religionis et doctrinae dubitare incoeperint (Bullinger to Wittgenstein, Feb. 23, 1573; Friedländer, _Beiträge zur rel. Gesch._, p. 254).]

[Footnote 16: De Thou, _Mémoires_, p. 9.]

[Footnote 17: Il me dist qu'on luy avoist escript de Rome, n'avoit que trois semaines ou environ, sur le propos des noces du roy de Navarre en ces propres termes; Que à ceste heure que tous les oiseaux estoient en cage, on les pouvoit prendre tous ensemble (Vulcob to Charles IX., Sept. 26, 1572; Noailles, iii. 214).]

[Footnote 18: _Mémoires de Duplessis-Mornay_, i. 38; Ambert, _Duplessis-Mornay_, p. 38.]

[Footnote 19: Digges, _Compleat Ambassador_, pp. 276, 255.]

[Footnote 20: Correr, _Relazione_; Tommaseo, ii. 116.]

[Footnote 21: He said to Catherine: Que quando quisiesen usar de otro y averlo, con no mas personas que con cinc o seys que son el cabo de todo esto, los tomasen a su mano y les cortasen las cabeças (Alva to Philip II., June 21, 1565; _Papiers de Granvelle_, ix. 298).]

[Footnote 22: Ci rallegriamo con la maestà sua con tutto l' affetto dell' animo, ch' ella habbia presa quella risolutione cosi opportunamente sopra la quale noi stesso l' ultima volta che fummo in Francia parlammo con la Regina Madre.... Dipoi per diversi gentilhuomini che in varie occorrenze habbiamo mandato in corte siamo instati nel suddetto ricordo (Alfonso II. to Fogliani, Sept. 13, 1572; Modena Archives).]

[Footnote 23: Muchas vezes me ha accordado de aver dicho a Su Mag. esto mismo en Bayona, y de lo que mi offrecio, y veo que ha muy bien desempeñado su palabra (Alva to Zuñiga, Sept. 9, 1572; Coquerel, _La St. Barthélemy_, p. 12).]

[Footnote 24: Kluckhohn, _Zur Geschichte des angeblichen Bündnisses von Bayonne_, p. 36, 1868.]

[Footnote 25: Il signor duca di Alva ... mi disse, che come in questo abboccamento negotio alcuno non havevano trattato, ne volevano trattare, altro che della religione, cosi la lor differenza era nata per questo, perchè non vedeva che la regina ci pigliasse risolutione a modo suo ne de altro, che di buone parole ben generali.... È stato risoluto che alla tornata in Parigi si farà una ricerca di quelli che hanno contravenuto all' editto, e si castigaranno; nel che dice S.M. che gli Ugonotti ci sono talmente compresi, che spera con questo mezzo solo cacciare i Ministri di Francia.... Il Signor Duca di Alva si satisfa piu di questa deliberatione di me, perchè io non trovo che serva all' estirpation dell' heresia il castigar quelli che hanno contravenuto all' editto (Santa Croce to Borromeo, Bayonne, July 1, 1565, MS.).]

[Footnote 26: Desjardins, _Négociations avec la Toscane_, iii. 756, 765, 802.]

[Footnote 27: Io non no fatto intendere cosa alcuna a nessuno principe; ho ben parlato al nunzio solo (Desp. Aug. 31; Desjardins, iii. 828).]

[Footnote 28: Alberi, _Relazioni Venete_, xii. 250.]

[Footnote 29: Alberi, xii. 328.]

[Footnote 30: Son principal but et dessein estoit de sentir quelle espérance ilz pourroient avoir de parvenir à la paix avec le G.S. dont il s'est ouvert et a demandé ce qu'il en pouvoit espérer et attendre (Charles IX. to Du Ferrier, Sept. 28, 1572; Charrière, _Négociations dans le Levant_, iii. 310).]

[Footnote 31: Ranke, _Französische Geschichte_, v. 76.]

[Footnote 32: Digges, p. 258; Cosmi, _Memorie di Morosini_, p. 26.]

[Footnote 33: Alberi, xii. 294.]

[Footnote 34: Mittit eo Antonium Mariam Salviatum, reginae affinem eique pergratum, qui eam in officio contineat (Cardinal of Vercelli, _Comment. de Rebus Gregorii_ XIII.; Ranke, _Päpste_, App. 85).]

[Footnote 35: Desp. Aug. 30, 1570.]

[Footnote 36: Oct. 14, 1570.]

[Footnote 37: Sept. 24, 1570.]

[Footnote 38: Nov. 28, 1570.]

[Footnote 39: Quando scrissi ai giorni passati alla S.V. Illma in cifra, che l'ammiraglio s' avanzava troppo et che gli darebbero su l' unge, gia mi ero accorto, che non lo volevano più tollerare, et molto più mi confermai nell' opinione, quando con caratteri ordinarii glie scrivevo che speravo di dover haver occasione di dar qualche buona nova a Sua Beatitudine, benchè mai havrei creduto la x. parte di quello, che al presente veggo con gli occhi (Desp. Aug. 24; Theiner, _Annales_, i. 329).]

[Footnote 40: Che molti siano stati consapevoli del fatto è necessario, potendogli dizer che a 21 la mattina, essendo col Cardinal di Borbone et M. de Montpensier, viddi che ragionavano si domesticamente di quello che doveva seguire, che in me medesimo restando confuso, conobbi che la prattica andava gagliarda, e piutosto disperai di buon fine che altrimente (same Desp.; Mackintosh, _History of England_, ii. 355).]

[Footnote 41: Attribuisce a se, et al nipote, et a casa sua, la morte del' ammiraglio, gloriandosene assai (Desp. Oct. 1; Theiner, p. 331). The Emperor told the French ambassador "que, depuis les choses avenues, on lui avoit mandé de Rome que Mr. le Cardinal de Lorraine avoit dit que tout le fait avoit esté délibéré avant qu'il partist de France" (Vulcob to Charles IX., Nov. 8; Groen van Prinsterer, _Archives de Nassau_, iv. App. 22).]

[Footnote 42: Marlot, _Histoire de Reims_, iv. 426. This language excited the surprise of Dale, Walsingham's successor (Mackintosh, iii. 226).]

[Footnote 43: _Archives Curieuses_, viii. 305.]

[Footnote 44: Egli solo tra tutti gli altri è solito particolarmente di sostenere le nostre fatiche.... Essendo partecipe di tutti i nostri consigli, et consapevole de segreti dell' intimo animo nostro (Pius V. to Philip II., June 20, 1571; Zucchi, _Idea del Segretario_, i. 544).]

[Footnote 45: Serranus, _Commentarii_, iv. 14; Davila, ii. 104.]

[Footnote 46: Digges, p. 193.]

[Footnote 47: Finis hujus legationis erat non tam suadere Regi ut foedus cum aliis Christianis principibus iniret (id nempe notum erat impossibile illi regno esse); sed ut rex ille praetermissus non videretur, et revera ut sciretur quo tenderent Gallorum cogitationes. Non longe nempe a Rocella naves quasdam praegrandes instruere et armare coeperat Philippus Strozza praetexens velle ad Indias a Gallis inventas navigare (_Relatio gestorum in Legatione Card. Alexandrini MS._).]

[Footnote 48: Con alcuni particulari che io porto, de' quali ragguaglierò N. Signore a bocca, posso dire di non partirmi affatto mal espedito (Ranke, _Zeitschrift_, iii. 598). Le temps et les effectz luy témoigneront encores d'advantage (_Mémoire baillé au légat Alexandrin_, Feb. 1572; Bib. Imp. F. Dupuy, 523).]

[Footnote 49: _De Sacro Foedere, Graevius Thesaurus_, i. 1038.]

[Footnote 50: Catena, _Vita di Pio V._, p. 197; Gabutius, _Vita Pii V._, p. 150, and the Dedication.]

[Footnote 51: D'Ossat to Villeroy, Sept. 22, 1599; _Lettres_, iii. 503. An account of the Legate's journey was found by Mendham among Lord Guildford's manuscripts, and is described in the Supplement to his life of Pius V., p. 13. It is written by the Master of Ceremonies, and possesses no interest. The _Relatio_ already quoted, which corresponds to the description given by Clement VIII. of his own work, is among the manuscripts of the Marquis Capponi, No. 164.]

[Footnote 52: Vuol andar con ogni quiete et dissimulatione, fin che il Rè suo figliolo sia in età (Santa Croce, Desp. June 27, 1563; _Lettres du Card. Santa Croce_, p. 243).]

[Footnote 53: La Chastre to Charles IX., Jan. 21, 1570; Raynal, _Histoire du Berry_, iv. 105; Lavallée, _Histoire des Français_, ii. 478. Both Raynal and Lavallée had access to the original.]

[Footnote 54: Il Papa credeva che la pace fatta, e l'aver consentito il Rè che l'Ammiraglio venisse in corte, fusse con disegno di ammazzarlo; ma accortosi come passa il fatto, non ha creduto che nel Rè Nostro sia quella brava resoluzione (Letter of Nov. 28, 1571; Desjardins, iii. 732). Pour le regard de M. l'Admiral, je n'ay failly de luy faire entendre ce que je devois, suyvant ce qu'il a pleu à V.M. me commander, dont il est demeuré fort satisfaict (Ferralz to Charles IX., Dec. 25, 1571; Bib. Imp. F. Fr. 16,039; Walsingham to Herbert, Oct. 10, 1571; to Smith, Nov. 26, 1572; Digges, p. 290).]

[Footnote 55: Marcel to Charles IX., December 20, 1571; _Cabinet Historique_, ii. 253.]

[Footnote 56: Le Roy estoit d'intelligence, ayant permis à ceux de la Religion de l'assister, et, cas advenant que leurs entreprises succédassent, qu'il les favoriserait ouvertement ... Genlis, menant un secours dans Mons, fut défait par le duc d'Alve, qui avoit comme investi la ville. La journée de Saint-Barthélemi se résolut (Bouillon, _Mémoires_, p. 9).]

[Footnote 57: Si potria distruggere il resto, maxime che l'ammiraglio si trova in Parigi, populo Catholico et devoto del suo Rè, dove potria se volesse facilmente levarselo dinnanzi per sempre (Castagna, Desp. Aug. 5, 1572; Theiner, i. 327).]

[Footnote 58: _Mémoires de Claude Haton_, 687.]

[Footnote 59: En quelque sorte que ce soit ledict Seigneur est résollu faire vivre ses subjectz en sa religion, et ne permettre jamais ny tollérer, quelque chose qui puisse advenir, qu'il n'y ait aultre forme ny exercice de religion en son royaulme que de la catholique (Instruction for the Governors of Normandy, Nov. 3, 1572; La Mothe, vii. 390).]

[Footnote 60: Charles IX. to Mondoucet, Aug. 26, 1572; _Compte Rendu de la Commission Royale d' Histoire_, 2e Série, iv. 327.]

[Footnote 61: Li Ugonotti si ridussero alla porta del Louvre, per aspettare che Mons. di Guisa e Mons. d'Aumale uscissero per ammazzarli (Borso Trotti, Desp. Aug. 23; Modena Archives).]

[Footnote 62: L'on a commencé à descouvrir la conspiration que ceux de la religion prétendue réformée avoient faicte contre moy mesmes, ma mère et mes frères (Charles IX. to La Mothe, Aug. 25; La Mothe, vii. 325).]

[Footnote 63: Desp. Sept. 19, 1572.]

[Footnote 64: Il ne fault pas attendre d'en avoir d'autre commandement du Roy ne de Monseigneur, car ils ne vous en feront point (Puygaillard to Montsoreau, Aug. 26, 1572; Mourin, _La Réforme en Anjou_, p. 106).]

[Footnote 65: Vous croirez le présent porteur de ce que je luy ay donné charge de vous dire (Charles IX. to Mandelot, Aug. 24, 1572; _Corr. de Charles IX. avec Mandelot_, p. 42).]

[Footnote 66: Je n'en ay aucune coulpe, n'ayant sceu quelle estoit la volunté que par umbre, encores bien tard et à demy (Mandelot to Charles IX., Sept. 17, p. 73).]

[Footnote 67: Floquet, _Histoire du Parlement de Normandie_, iii. 121.]

[Footnote 68: Anjou to Montsoreau, Aug. 26; Mourin, p. 107; Falloux, _Vie de Pie V._, i. 358; Port, _Archives de la Mairie d'Angers_, pp. 41, 42.]

[Footnote 69: Schomberg to Brulart, Oct. 10, 1572; Capefigue, _La Réforme_, iii. 264.]

[Footnote 70: Instructions for Schomberg, Feb. 15, 1573; Noailles, iii. 305.]

[Footnote 71: Monluc to Brulart, Nov. 20, 1572; Jan. 20, 1573: to Charles IX., Jan. 22, 1573; Noailles, iii. 218, 223, 220.]

[Footnote 72: Charles IX. to St. Goard, Jan. 20, 1573; Groen, iv. App. 29.]

[Footnote 73: Letter from Paris in Strype's _Life of Parker_, iii. 110; "Tocsain contre les Massacreurs," _Archives Curieuses_, vii. 7.]

[Footnote 74: Afin que ce que vous avez dressé des choses passées à la Saint-Barthélemy ne puisse être publié parmi le peuple, et mêmement entre les étrangers, comme il y en a plusieurs qui se mêlent d'écrire et qui pourraient prendre occasion d'y répondre, je vous prie qu'il n'en soit rien imprimé ni en français ni en Latin, mais si vous en avez retenu quelque chose, le garder vers vous (Charles IX. to the President de Cély, March 24, 1573; _Revue Rétrospective_, 2 Série. iii. 195).]