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

Poictiers, as the mistress, more than divided the
influence which ought to have been Catherine's as
the wife. The death of her husband took that
humiliating impediment out of her way. But Mary
Stuart, the niece of the Guises, and the wife of the
weak-minded Francis II, profited by the imbecility
through which Catherine had hoped to govern.
Death, however, removed this obstacle, as he had
done every previous one, by striking down Francis
II only seventeen short months after he had
ascended the throne. Once more there stood up
another rival, and Catherine had still to wait. Now
it was that the Triumvirate rose and grasped with
powerful hand the direction of France, Was the
patience of the Italian woman to be always
baulked? No: Death came again to her help. The
fortune of battle and the pistol of the assassin rid
her of the Triumvirate.
The Duke of Guise was dead: rival to her
power there no longer existed. The way so long
barred was open now, and Cathelqne boldly placed
herself at the head of affairs; and this position she
continued to hold, with increasing calamity to
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