114 HISTORY OF FRANCE. [chap. away and joined the Huguenot army, abjuring the Catholic Church and deiilaring that he would never enter Paris again save as King of France. Thus united, the Huguenots and their allies were very strong. The queen- mother was glad to lure back her son Alengon by giving him the duchy of Anjou, and at the same time the King of Navarre was made governor of Guienne, and freedom of conscience was promised to the Calvinists in all towns save Paris. This was called Monsieur's peace, Monsieur being the usual designation of the next brother of the reigning king. 10. The League, 1577. — The champion of the Roman Catholic Church was Philip II. of Spain, while Queen Elizabeth was looked on as the head of the Reform every- where. But the hereditary policy of the house of Valois was enmity to Spain and alUance with England ; Anjou moreover, like his brother, was ix wooer of the English queen, and he accepted the invitation of the revolted Dutch Calvinists in the Netherlands to become their head and protector. The zealous Catholics took alarm, and formed a Lt'Ui^ue for the protection of their faith, binding them- selves to resist to the utmost any attack on the Church, and to prevent any heretic from coming to the crown. At the head of this League stood the Duke of Guise and his brothers, and it was greatly fostered by the order of Jesuits. At Paris men even began to whisper that Henry and his brother were as effete and unworthy as any old " long-haired king." It was remarked moreover that their next male heirs were those relapsed heretics the Bourbon princes, and that the time might be come for hiding Henry III. in a convent ; that Hugh Capet had been an usurper, while the Lorraine princes had the true blood of Charles the Great. Meantime Henry of Navarre kept court at Nerac, where he was joined by his wife, Margaret of Valois. No one guessed what was in the young king. His easy grace and kindliness won all hearts, even while his vicious habits shocked the Calvinists. As yet he seemed to be a mere pleasant trifler, like his father Antony, who might easily be set aside. 11. War of the Three Henries, 1584. — Matters were brought to a point by the death of Monsieur, unmarried, in 1584. The king was childless, and Heniy of Navarre was the next male heir, though his kindred with the house of V.ilois in the direct male line was so distant that they had no common ancestor nearer than Saint Lewis, The
