The Pocket Bible or Christian the Printer Part 63

[40] Dom Felibien, _History of the Town of Paris_, vol. V, pp. 343-347; _French Ceremonial_, pp. 940 and following; _Registers of the Town Hall of Paris_, etc.

[41] De Thou, _History of France_, book I, p. 271.

[42] These monstrosities seem to exceed the boundaries of the possible.

Let us quote literally the text of the historians:

"On the evening of the same day (January 21, 1535) the six culprits were taken to the parvise of Notre Dame, where the fires were prepared to burn them. Above the pyres rose a sort of scaffolding on which the patients were tied fast. The fire was then lighted under them, and the executioners, GENTLY slacking the rope of the lever, allowed the miscreants to dip down to the level of the flames, in order that they be caused to feel the sharpest smart; they were then raised up again, kept hanging ablaze in midair, and, after having been several times put through that painful torment, they were dropped into the flames where they expired." (_History of France_ by Father Daniel of the Society of Jesus, vol. IV, page 41, Paris, 1751.)

"On the said day (January 21, 1535) in the presence of the King, the Queen and all the court, and after the aforesaid remonstrances, the six heretics were brought forward to make the _amende honorable_ before the church of Notre Dame of Paris, and immediately after they were burned alive." (_Acts and Deeds of the Kings of France and England_, by Jean Bouchet. Poitiers, 1557, in-folio, pp. 271-272.)

"In order to purge their sin, the said heretics were burned to death on the said day (January 21, 1535) at several places, as the King pa.s.sed by, while in vain the poor sufferers cried and implored him for mercy."

(_History of the State of Religion_, by Jean Sleidan. 1557, vol. IX, p.

137). (Quotations from Catholic works.)

[43] _Exhortation of the King of France against the Heretics_, Jean Bouchet, Poitiers, 1557, in-folio, p. 272.

[44] On the subject of this decree, which was later forcibly annulled, see _Extracts of the Registers of the Parliament of Paris_, LXXVI, folio 113, collated and extracted by M. Taillandier.--Cited in the introduction to the _History of the Printing Press in Paris, Memoirs of the Society of Antiquaries_, vol. XII.

[45] It was no infrequent occurrence to cause the tongues of heretics to be cut out, in order to prevent them from confessing aloud the Evangelical doctrine as they marched to the stake.--See the following citation, from Theodore of Beze.

[46] "Among those burnt at Paris that day, January 21, 1535, were: John Dubourg, a merchant-draper of Paris, living in St. Denis Street, at the sign of the Black Horse; Etienne Laforge, of Tournay, but long an inhabitant of Paris, a man very rich and very charitable; a schoolmistress named Mary La Catelle; and Anthony Poille, an architect formerly of Meaux, and blessed of G.o.d in that he carried off the palm among the martyrs, for having been the most cruelly treated. He had his tongue cut out, as more fully it is set forth in the book of the martyrs."--_Ecclesiastical Chronicles_, Theodore of Beze, vol. I, p. 1.

[47] "Jacques Bonhomme," literally Goodman Jack, or Jack Drudge.

[48] Contribution in forced labor.

[49] Latin: "Let us pray."

[50] Brantoine, _Ill.u.s.trious Women_, vol. IX, p. 171.

[51] _Register Journal of L'Etoile_, p. 28.

[52] The queen's words are historical. The book was _Marvelous Discourses on Catherine De Medici_, by Robert Estienne, Geneva, 1565.

[53] _Register Journal of L'Etoile_, p. 30.

[54] That was the familiar appellation at court of Princess Marguerite, the daughter of Catherine of Medici and Henry II, so famous for her excesses. She married Henry IV, who later divorced her.

[55] De Thou, _History of France_, book LXXIV, p. 240.

[56] _Register Journal of L'Etoile_, supplement, p. 57.

[57] _Register Journal of L'Etoile_, supplement, p. 198.

[58] _Register Journal of L'Etoile_, p. 234. It is impossible to cite in full this all too true satire on the abominable morals of the court of France in the sixteenth century.

[59] _Register Journal of L'Etoile_, supplement, pp. 236, 239.

[60] _Register Journal of L'Etoile_, supplement, p. 239.

[61] "Driven thereto by the Cardinal of Lorraine, who blamed the conduct of the Duke of Anjou, the Queen came to the army in person in order to enlighten herself upon the mistake of not having engaged battle before the enemy's forces had effected a junction, that is, after the death of the Duke of Deux-Ponts, who was poisoned by some wine presented to him by a wine merchant of Avallon. Her Majesty wished to take the field with Marshal Tavannes."--_Memoirs of Gaspard of Sault, Seigneur of Tavannes._ pp. 322-323.

[62] Letters of Pius V. March 23-April 13, 1569, at Catena--_Life Of Pius_ V, p. 85.

[63] De Thou, _History of France_, Lx.x.xV, p. 129.

[64] Machiavelli, _The Prince_, chap. 18.

[65] _Journal and Memoirs of Francis of Lorraine_, Duke of Aumale and of Guise, containing the affairs of France and the negotiations with Scotland, Italy and Germany, pp. 664-665.

[66] Exodus 21, 23-25.

[67] Morning prayer of the guard, 1569.--_Protestant Review_, vol. I, p.

105.

[68] The doc.u.ment, here reproduced, is the literal testament of Admiral Coligny, taken from the original ma.n.u.scripts of the National Library, Collection of Puy, vol. Lx.x.xI. This doc.u.ment, of so great a historic value, was first published in full in 1852 by the Historical Society of French Protestants, vol. I. p. 263. That which, in our estimation, imparts a double interest to the testament, is the circ.u.mstance that it was written by the Admiral during the war (June, 1569) after the battle of Jarnac and before the battle of Montcontour.

[69] _Register Journal of L'Etoile_, p. 217. The original of this monstrous letter was deposited among the ma.n.u.scripts of the National Library of France by decree of the Convention, the 11th, Ventose, year II of the Republic. The immortal Const.i.tutionals wished thus to nail royalty once more to the pillory of history.

[70] "While the admiral was in camp, Dominic, one of his chamber valets, convicted of having tried to poison his master, was hanged.... Having been captured by La Riviere, captain of the guard of the Duke of Anjou, he was overwhelmed with promises; he was made to expect everything, if he would poison his master. Dominic yielded, received money and a poisonous powder, and returned to the camp of Monsieur Coligny."--De Thou, _History of France_, vol. V, p. 626-627. See the same historian on the poisoning of the Duke of Deux-Ponts, of Dandolet, and others.

[71] Inhabitants of the fortified city of La Roch.e.l.le.

[72] For the details of this battle, see De Thou, vol. V. p. 500; _Memoires of Gaspard of Sault_, Seigneur of Tavannes, vol. I, p. 323 and following. _Memoires of Francis of Lanoue_, vol. I, p. 623, and following.

[73] _Memories of the State of France under Charles IX_, vol. 1, pp.

5-12.

[74] "Contre-Un" (Against-One) is the t.i.tle at a book written in the sixteenth century by Estienne of La Boetie against monarchy.

[75] La Boetie is to-day known mainly through the friends.h.i.+p that united him to Montaigne, and which inspired the latter to write one of his most charming pa.s.sages.

La Boetie was born in Sarlat, November 1, 1530; he died in Germignat, near Bordeaux, August 18, 1563. He left several works, all of which are to-day almost unknown. Unquestionably the most curious of his productions is the one mentioned by Montaigne in these terms:

"My power of handling not being such that I dare to offer as a fine piece richly painted and set off according to art, I have therefore thought best to borrow one of Estienne of La Boetie, and such a one as will honor and adorn all the rest of my work: namely, a discourse that he called _Voluntary Servitude_, which others have since further baptized the _Contre-Un_, a piece written in his younger years, by way of essay, in honor of liberty against tyranny, and which has since been in the hands of several men of great learning and judgment, not without singular and merited commendation, for it is finely written and as full as anything can possibly be."--Montaigne, Essays, Book I, chap. 27.

[76] An allusion to the Vision of Victoria, depicted in "The Casque's Lark," the fifth of this series.

[77] It is certain that Admiral Coligny's head departed for Rome; whether it ever arrived there is not known. Mandelot, the Governor of Lyons, acknowledged receipt of a letter from Charles IX ordering the n.o.bleman "_to arrest the carrier of the head, and to take the same away from him_."--Extracts from the correspondence of Mandelot, published by M. Paulin, Paris, 1845, p. 119.

[78] Out of respect for our female readers we dare not here quote the _Register Journal of L'Etoile_, page 81, where is found _in extenso_ the conversation, marked by a savage obscenity, between the Queen and the court ladies who accompanied her. The conversation is confirmed by all contemporaneous historians.

[79] See "The Bra.s.s Bell," number two in this series.

[80] See "The Carlovingian Coins," the ninth of this series.

[81] See, on the siege of La Roch.e.l.le, the daring manoeuvres of Captain Mirant; the combat sustained by Barbot the boilermaker, single-handed against two companies; the firing of the stranded s.h.i.+p _L'Ensensoir_ by the Rochelois women, and their heroism in the combats in which they took part, _History of La Roch.e.l.le and of the Country of Aunis_, by Arcere 1756, 2 vols. in quarto. I refer my readers to that excellent work in order that those who would wish to certify the facts may see that all the episodes herein narrated concerning the siege of La Roch.e.l.le are strictly historic.

[82] As thrillingly recounted in "The Pilgrim's Sh.e.l.l," the twelfth work of this series.