vn.] THE RELIGIOUS WARS. 107 of the Huguenots who were taken accused both Conde and his brother the King of Navarre. Guise proposed that, when they next came to court, the king should accuse them, and the attendants should draw their swords and kill them on the spot, but for this Francis had either too much conscience or too little nerve. He took care to be so friendly with the King of Navarre as to leave no excuse for the attack, and the Duke of Guise was heard to mutter, " Coward." But the poor boy was even then dying of abscess in the car, and only lived till the 3rd of December, 1560. 3. The Conference of Poissy, 1561.- — His young brother, Charles IX., was but ten years old, and Catharine de' Me- dici, becoming regent, recalled Montmorency to court, and to annoy the Guises, showed favour to the Huguenots. Motitluc, Bishop of Vale)ice, who favoured their opinions, was invited to preach before her, and Coligny's brother, the Cardinal de Chatillou, administered the Lord's Supper in Huguenot fashion in Beauvais cathedral and brought his wife to court. But wherever Calvinism prevailed, the feelings of devout Catholics were sure to be wounded by attacks on the mass, the crucifix, and images of the saints. The queen had promised Coligny that there should be a public discussion, and this took place at Poissy, in 1561, where Theodore Beza, the chief Calvinist champion, so shocked the Catholics by his statement of the doctrine of the Holy Eucharist that it was instantly protested against as blasphemous. The queen was severely blamed by the Papal legate for holding such a meeting while the Council was actually assembling at Trent, and the Conference broke up without effect. Still the Parliament of Paris registered an ordinance permitting the Calvinists to meet for public worship, provided they were unarmed, but not within walled cities, or within a certain distance from court. This permission gave great offence to Guise and Montmorency, who, with another old soldier, the Marshal de St. Andre, formed a league called the Trium- virate to protect the Church. They won over the King of Navarre to their side by giving him hopes that Philip H. would give him the kingdom of Sardinia in compen- sation for the loss of his lands on the other side of the Pyrenees. 4. The Massacre of Vassy, 1563. — Guise was visiting his mother An>ie of Este, at her castle of Joinville, near I'^^assy, when she complained of the noise made by a
