Protestantism in France From Death of Francis I to Edict of Nantes - James Aitken Wylie

awe if not the love of the king, and as a
consequence his heavy hand was felt in every part
of the kingdom.
The second party was that of the Guises. The
dominancy of that family in France marks one of
the darkest eras of the nation. The House of
Lorraine, from which the Lords of Guise are
descended, derived its original from Godfrey
Bullen, King of Jerusalem, and on the mother's side
from a daughter of Charlemagme. Anthony,
flourishing in wealth and powerful in possessions,
was Duke of Lorraine; Claude, a younger brother,
crossed the frontier in 1513, staff in hand, attended
by but one servant, to seek his fortunes in France.
He ultimately became Duke of Guise. This man
had six sons, to all of whom wealth seemed to
come at their wish. Francis I, perceiving the
ambition of these men, warned his son to keep
them at a distance.[11] But the young king,
despising the warning, recalled Francis de Lorraine
as he had done the Constable Montmorency, and
the power of the Guises continued to grow, till at
last they became the scourge of the country in
15