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8 Ordinances of Moulins. [1665-7
within the Catholic religion and, when called upon, bearing arms on the
side of the King, were opposed to all coercion in matters of religion.
The greatest and most enlightened exponent of this view was, no doubt,
the Chancellor L'Hopital. " Let us get rid," he had said to the Estates
assembled at Orleans in December, 1560, " of these devilish words, j
these names of party, of faction, of sedition—Lutheran, Huguenot, ,'
Papist—let us keep unadulterated the name of Christian." And again : ;
" A man does not cease to be a citizen for being excommunicated." ;
Various motives doubtless actuated the various members of the group, j
Some felt keenly the state of impotence to which France had been
reduced by these internal dissensions. " With the men whom we have
lost in these wars," said one a few years later, " we could have driven
the Spaniards out of the Low Countries." Another important section,
of whom the great House of Montmorency may be taken as the type,
were strongly moved by jealousy of the half-foreign Guises, and of the
wholly foreign gang of Italians, from the Queen-Mother downwards,
who held positions of power and influence at the Court. In the case of
the Constable, strict orthodoxy and dread of innovation outweighed all
other considerations, and, though not on good terms with the Guises,
he never broke with them; but his eldest son, Marshal Montmorency,
whom in 1563 Sir Thomas Smith, the English Envoy, described as "a
Huguenot, or little it lacks," though he never, like his cousins the
Chatillons, actually joined the Reformed religion, was as tolerant as
the Chancellor himself. In the period subsequent to the Massacre, when
the Queen-Mother for a time threw in her lot with the Guises, he was
imprisoned and his life was more than once in danger.
The King and his mother returned to the capital towards the end of
1565. Early in the following year a great Assembly was held at
Moulins-sur-Allier, which was attended by most of the chief nobles, and
by representatives of the provincial Paiiements. Ordinances of lasting
importance for the legal administration of France were drawn up by
the Chancellor and passed by the Assembly. Reconciliations also
took place between the widowed Duchess of Guise and Coligny, and
between the Cardinal of Lorraine and Montmorency, who had forcibly
opposed his entry into Paris; but they were felt to be merely formal, nor
did the young Duke of Guise or his uncle, the Duke of Aumale, take
pail in them. Catharine was probably sincere in wishing to avoid war
at this time by any means ; but events were too strong for her.
The Huguenots had been uneasy since the Bayonne Conference,
believing that it indicated a desire on the part of the King of Spain to
associate the French Court with his crusade against Protestantism. His
own affairs in the Netherlands were rapidly coming to a crisis. In October,
1565, he had definitely refused any religious toleration. Throughout
1566 the Low Countries were seething; and early in 1567 Alva was
commissioned to raise an army in Lombardy and Piedmont for the