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14 Peace of Saint-Germain. [1669-70
and German cavalry had not suffered very severely; the south was
still unshaken, perhaps indeed confirmed, in its loyalty to the cause
by Montgomery's successful campaign. Moreover Marshal Damville,
the second of the Montmorency brothers, who governed in Languedoc,
had quarrelled with Monluc, and was not more friendly than the rest of
his House to the Guises.
Thus, when the Admiral, a few days after the battle, rallied his party
at Niort, he had little difficulty in persuading them, after leaving
garrisons in Rochelle, Saint-Jean-d'Angely, and Angouleme, to abandon
Poitou and the adjacent districts to the King's forces, and to march
eastwards. Mouy was left with a small garrison in Niort, which held
out for a short time against the Duke of Anjou; but on the treacherous
murder of its commander by Maurevel, it opened its gates, and its
example was followed by the other towns of Poitou and Saintonge, with
the exception of those named above. Their loss was balanced by the
capture of Nimes, which took place about this time. Anjou next
proceeded to besiege Saint-Jean-d'Angely, which after a gallant defence
of forty-six days capitulated towards the end of the year. After this
the Court retired to Angers, and the army was disbanded.
The desultory fighting which went on during the early part of 1570
was, on the whole, favourable to the Huguenots. La Noue, sallying out
of Rochelle, recaptured several towns, including Niort and Saintes.
Meanwhile the Admiral and the young Princes had, after a raid into
Dauphine, recrossed the Rhone, and were by the end of May at Saint-
Etienne. Thither Marshal Biron and the Sieur de Malassise were sent
to negotiate; but as the condition which prohibited public worship was
still insisted on, no agreement was reached, and the Huguenot army, on
June 25, reached Arnay-le-Duc in Burgundy, where they found Marshal
Cosse (Anjou being absent through illness) waiting to offer battle. A
smart though indecisive skirmish ensued ; but after this both armies
drew off, the Admiral to Autun, Cosse—alarmed for the safety of Paris,
and, as a politique, unwilling to push matters to extremity—towards Sens.
Negotiations were then resumed, and on August 8 peace was signed at
Saint-Germain-en-Laye, on terms if anything more favourable than the
Protestants had hitherto obtained.
It is possible that at the moment neither Charles IX nor his mother
had any purpose in view beyond the restoration of peace to the country.
There is no reason to suppose that either of them had any special
antipathy to Protestantism. Religion was not a dominating influence
with Catharine; while the two persons whom Charles probably loved
best in the world, his foster-mother and his mistress, Marie Touchet,
were Huguenots. Piety was not a marked characteristic of the French
upper classes; nor, except possibly among a section of the clergy, was
there any enthusiasm in the country at large for the See of Rome. On
the other hand, in view of the growing danger of foreign intervention, it