Memoirs of Marguerite de Valois, the — Volume 1 [Court memoir series] eBook
consort of Henry IV, King of France Queen Marguerite
Accordingly, the Marshal went to the King in his closet,
between the hours of nine and ten, and told him he
was come as a faithful servant to discharge his duty,
and lay before him the danger in which he stood, if
he persisted in his resolution of punishing M. de Guise,
as he ought now to be informed that the attempt made
upon the Admiral’s life was not set on foot
by him alone, but that his (the King’s) brother
the King of Poland, and the Queen his mother, had
their shares in it; that he must be sensible how much
the Queen lamented Charri’s assassination, for
which she had great reason, having very few servants
about her upon whom she could rely, and as it happened
during the King’s minority,—at the
time, moreover, when France was divided between the
Catholics and the Huguenots, M. de Guise being at
the head of the former, and the Prince de Conde of
the latter, both alike striving to deprive him of his
crown; that through Providence, both his crown and
kingdom had been preserved by the prudence and good
conduct of the Queen Regent, who in this extremity
found herself powerfully aided by the said Charri,
for which reason she had vowed to avenge his death;
that, as to the Admiral, he must be ever considered
as dangerous to the State, and whatever show he might
make of affection for his Majesty’s person,
and zeal for his service in Flanders, they must be
considered as mere pretences, which he used to cover
his real design of reducing the kingdom to a state
of confusion.
The Marshal concluded with observing that the original
intention had been to make away with the Admiral only,
as the most obnoxious man in the kingdom; but Maurevel
having been so unfortunate as to fail in his attempt,
and the Huguenots becoming desperate enough to resolve
to take up arms, with design to attack, not only M.
de Guise, but the Queen his mother, and his brother
the King of Poland, supposing them, as well as his
Majesty, to have commanded Maurevel to make his attempt,
he saw nothing but cause of alarm for his Majesty’s
safety,—as well on the part of the Catholics,
if he persisted in his resolution to punish M. de
Guise, as of the Huguenots, for the reasons which he
had just laid before him.
LETTER V.
The Massacre of St. Bartholomew’s Day.
King Charles, a prince of great prudence, always paying
a particular deference to his mother, and being much
attached to the Catholic religion, now convinced of
the intentions of the Huguenots, adopted a sudden
resolution of following his mother’s counsel,
and putting himself under the safeguard of the Catholics.
It was not, however, without extreme regret that
he found he had it not in his power to save Teligny,
La Noue, and M. de La Rochefoucauld.
He went to the apartments of the Queen his mother,
and sending for M. de Guise and all the Princes and
Catholic officers, the “Massacre of St. Bartholomew”
was that night resolved upon.
