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6 Peace of Amboise.—Havre recaptured. [1563
but their recognition of the " Reformed Religion " met with a good
deal of opposition from some of the provincial Parlcments; those of
Paris, Toulouse, and Aix requiring some modification. The Admiral,
too, who did not reach Orleans till the 23rd, was not entirely pleased to
find that peace had been made in his absence.
The Queen-Mother's next move was to consolidate the peace between
the two parties by uniting them in a common task. English troops were
still established on French soil, and all Frenchmen must combine to
dislodge them. Marshal de Brissac was sent into Normandy at once;
the Court following shortly after, with the Constable, his sons Marshal
Montmorency and Damville, Conde', and other captains. The Admiral
was thought better away. Warwick had taken steps to strengthen his
position; but his army was being rapidly thinned by disease. Nor was
it possible any longer to maintain the pretext that it had been sent
solely to aid in delivering the King from coercion by a faction. The
French nobles, most of whom had friends among Warwick's officers,
had no desire to exact hard terms of capitulation. On July 28 Warwick,
who was that day wounded, agreed to surrender; and on the 31st the
French were put into possession of the town. The capitulation had
hardly been signed when an English fleet with reinforcements came in
sight; but the only work it found was to carry home the remains of the
garrison. The relations between France and England remained for some
time rather strained; but a settlement was reached in a peace made at
Troyes on the 13th of the following April. It was contended on the
French side that Elizabeth's action in occupying Havre had cancelled
the clause in the treaty of Cateau-Cambresis which entitled her to claim
500,000 crowns if Calais were not restored within eight years. She
finally agreed to abandon the claim and release the four gentlemen
detained as sureties for the sum. As a token of amity Lord Hunsdon
was sent to invest the French King with the Garter.
By the death of the King of Navarre, the Prince of Conde had
become the senior " Prince of the Blood." As such he had claimed to
succeed his brother as lieutenant-general of the realm—an inconvenient
claim, which Catharine and L'Hopital evaded by having the King,
though he had not completed his fourteenth year, declared of age and
competent to rule. This was done by an Assembly held at Rouen on
September 15, 1563. Peace was outwardly established, but the roots
of strife were not cut off. Early in 1564 the Cardinal of Lorraine
returned from Trent, where the Council had closed in December, 1563.
On the 13th of the previous October Paul IV had, at the instigation of
the King of Spain, cited the widowed Queen of Navarre to appear and
answer to a charge of heresy; and in default had declared her excommunicated,
her fiefs forfeited, and her children illegitimate. The Cardinal
came back with feelings of bitter resentment against the Chatillons,
whom he persisted in regarding as accessories to his brother's murder.