io6 HISTORY OF FRANCE. [chap. Duke ofC2iise. This younger branch of the house of Lor- raine had become entirely French, but without forgetting their claim to direct Carolingian descent. Their influence excited the jealousy of the house of Bourbon, which traced its lineage in the male line direct from St. Lewis. The heads of the family of Bourbon were AtUoiiy, Duke of Vendoine, and Lewis. Prince of Coiide, his brother, and by far the abler of the two. The old Constable of Alontmorency had fallen into the background, and the contest would have been a mere party struggle between two great families, had it not been complicated by the religious question. The Council of Trent was assembling again, and the moderate wished nothing to be done till the voice of the Church had spoken. But the Guise family were ardent against all reforms, and this would have inclined the Bourbons to the side of Reform, even if Antony's wife had not been an ardent Calvinist. She wn'i Joan II., Queen of Navarre, the only child of Henry d'Albret and of Margaret, sister of Francis L She was a woman of much learning, virtue, and ability, dragging forv/ard with difficulty her vain, indolent, pleasure-loving husband, by the help of his clever and energetic brother, seconded by the Admiral Coligny, a thoroughly good and religious man, much in earnest. The Reformed began to be called by the name of Hugcnots, apparently from the Cierman Eidgenossen, or oath-comrades, the name of the Swiss Confederates. They were much dreaded on account of their views of personal freedom, and their dislike of the usurpations of the crown ; but the Queen Mother Catharine de Medici favoured them, as a balance to the Guises, who were all powerful with the young king and queen. 2. The Conspiracy of Amboise, 1560. — In his hatred of the Duke of Guise, Conde agreed to a plot formed by a 1 1 uguenot named La Renaudie for collecting a great number of gentlemen of the sect at the court at Blois under pre- text of presenting petitions to the king. The Duke of Guise and his brothers were to be imprisoned, and the young king to be placed in the hands of the Prince of Conde. The plot was betrayed to Guise, who lost no time in removing the court to Amboise, a much stronger place, and surrounding it with troops. Conde was in attendance on the king when La Renaudie advanced, and hoping to conceal his part in the plot, he had to march against his own party. La Renaudie was killed in the skirmish, but others
