GUISE
78
GUISE
such an event. On the one hand, pamphleteers and
genealogists, with an eye to the future, wrote count-
less brochures to prove that the Guises were the real
descendants of Charlemagne, and that, like Pepin the
Short, they might with the assistance of the Holy See
ascend the throne of France. On the other hand
Henri de Guise concluded the Treaty of Joinville CM
Dec, 1584) with Philip II of Spain, and had it ratified
by Sixtus V. This stipulated that, at the death of
Henry III, the Cardinal de Bourbon, ArchbLshop of
Rouen (1.520-90), third son of Charles de Bourbon,
Duke of Vendome, should be recognized as heir to the
crown "to the exclusion of all French prmces of the
blood at present heretics and relapsed". The Car-
dinal de Bourbon published a manifesto to this effect
(1 .\pril, 1585). Philip II of Spain granted the League
a subsidy of 50,000 crowns a month; moreover, the
clergy and lower middle classes of Paris organized for
the Catholic defence, although the municipality was
hostile to the League.
Civil war now broke out, and by the treaty of Ne- mours Henry III took sides with the League and re- voked all edicts which granted liberty to Protestants (18 July, 1585). When Sixtus V was assured that Henry III and Henri de Guise had come to an agree- ment, he launched a Bull of excommunication against the future Henry IV. So long as he was solicited to uphold the Guises against Henry III, the pope had temporized, but now that the League was operating imder royal authority, he interfered in favour of the movement. The Guises in the meantime roused all Champagne and Picardy, and took Toul and Verdun. Their lieutenant, Anne de Joyeuse, was defeated at Coutras by Henry of Navarre, but the victories of Henri de Guise at Vimory (2(5 Oct., 1587) and at Au- neau (24 Nov., 1587) compelled the withdrawal of the German Protestant troops. A secret committee or- ganized the League at Paris. In the provinces it was supported by the nobility, but at Paris it drew its strength from the common people and the religious orders. The secret committee, at first five members, then si-xteen, divided Paris into quarters, and in each quarter made preparations for war. Soon 30,000 Parisians declared themselves ready to serve Guise, while in the pulpits the preachers of the League upheld in impassioned language the rights of the people and of the pope. Furthermore, by agreement with Philip II, Guise sent the Due d'Aumale to overthrow the strongholds of Picardy, in order to assure by this means a way of retreat to the Invincible Armada, which was being sent to England to avenge Mary Stu- art, niece of Francois de Guise, executed at the com- mand of Elizabeth (8 Feb., 1.587).
Henry III now took fright and ordered Henri de GuLse to remain in his government of Champagne; he entered Paris, nevertheless, in defiance of the king (9 May, 1588), and was welcomed with enthusiasm by the masses. Repairing to the Louvre, accompanied by 400 gentlemen, he called on Henry III to establish the Inquisition and promulgate in France the decrees of the Council of Trent. The king protested and sought to bring troops to Paris on whom he might rely. A not then broke out, and the people were about to march to the Louvre (Day of Barricades, 12 May, 1.588), but Guise, on horseback and unarmed, rode about Paris calming them. He felt assured that the king, who had made him fine promises, was thence- forth in his hands. The former, however, to escape Guise's tutelage, withdrew on the morrow to Chartres.
Guise was now absolute master of Paris, and for some days was all-powerful . The brilliancy of his vic- tory, however, encouraged the extremists of the I^eague. The Sixteen, now in possession of the municipali- ties, committed many excesses, while such preacners as Boucher, Guince.stre, and Pighenat, cried loudly for civil war. Feeling that he was overruled. Guise now offered to treat with the king, and the latter signed the
Edict of Union at Rouen (10 July, 1588), by which he
ratified the League, gave Guise various offices of trust,
and made him lieutenant-general of tlie kingdom in
opposition to the Protestants, barred Henry of Na-
varre from succession to the throne, and promised the
immediate convocation of the States-General. In
this way Henry III gained time.
The States-General assembled at Blois (.Sept.-Dec., 1588), the members of the League being in control. Speeches were made, some aristocratic in sentiment, others democratic, but all directed against royal abso- lutism; and Guise was thenceforth the leader, not only of a religious, but also of a political, movement. The members of the assembly treated Henry III as a .slug- gard king ; the role of Guise resembled that of Charle- magne's forbears under the last Merovingians.
.4t this juncture Henry III determined to rid him- self of Guise, and his death was decided upon. On tak- ing hLs seat at table (22 Dec, 1588), Guise found beneath his napkin a note which warneil him that a plot was on foot against him. Below the warning he wrote: " None would dare", and threw it away. The next morning he was summoned by Henry III, and slain by the guards. A carpet was thrown over his body, and the courtiers made sarcastic speeches as they passed, calling him the "handsome King of Paris". Henry III left his apartments to kick the dead man in the face. That same night, Louis, Cardi- nal of Guise (1555-88), brother of Henri, was assassi- nated by four archers of the king, who feared lest the cardinal should become a peril to the State. The bodies of the two leaders of the League were burned and thrown into the Loire. This double assassination was at once the subject of a mult it ude of pamphlets.
By Catherine de Cloves, Henri de Guise had seven daughters and seven sons, on one of whom, Frangois- Alexandre (1589-1614), a posthumous son, the enthu- siastic Parisians bestowed a third name, Paris.
VIII. Charles de Lorraine, Duke of Mayenne, b. 26 March, 1554; d. at Soissons. 'A Oct., 1611; son of Francois de Guise and brother of Henri de (!uise. He first bore arms in 1569 beside Henri de Guise at the defence of Poitiers against Coligny, then at the battle of Moncontour and at the siege of Brouage. After the close of this war he went to Venice to engage in the campaign against the Turks, became a Venetian lord, and embarked with a fleet to assist the expedition of Don Juan of Austria. He did not return to France until after the massacre of .St. Bartholomew. He took part in the fourth Huguenot war and accompanied the Duke of .Vnjou to the siege of La Hochelle (157.3). Later he followed the duke to his domain in Poland, and when the death of Charles IX made the duke King of France, under the name of Henry III, Mayenne es- corted him thither. He took part in the sixth and seventh Huguenot wars, capturmg Poitou (1577) and Dauphiny (1,580). His policy was that of his brother, Henri: alliance with Spain against Henry of Navarre, ultim.ately against Henry III, to bring abo\it the suc- cession to the throne of the Cardinal de Bourbon and finally of the Guises. Henry III, it is true, had allied himself with the League by the Treaty of Nemours, but Mayenne soon realized the uncertainty of the royal attitude. The Mar^chal de Matignon, who gov- erned Guyenne for the king, hindered more than he favoured Mayenne's campaign against the Protestants of the south. When the assassination of Henri de Guise revealed the extent of the royal duplicity, May- enne was at Lyons. Warned by Bernardino de Men- doza, the Spanish ambassador, he had time to gain a place of safety before the arrival of Colonel d'Ornano, whom Henry III had sent to arrest him. He retired to his government of Burgundy, roused that province and also Champagne, of which his dead brother had been governor, marched on Paris, and began his active share in the history of the League.
Henry III, who had caused the assassination of
