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

mother, but a real dread lest God, who had been
affronted by these daring acts of sacrilege, should
smite France with judgment; for in that age stone
statues and crosses, and not divine precepts or
moral virtues, were religion. The impression made
upon the mind of the young king, especially in the
southern provinces, where it seemed as if this
impiety had reached its climax in a general sack of
holy buildings and sacred furniture, was never, it is
said, forgotten by him. It is believed to have
inspired his policy in after-years.[1]
The Queen-mother had another object in view
in the progress she was now making. It enabled
her, without attracting observation, to gather the
sentiments of the neighboring sovereigns on the
great question of the age --namely, Protestantism--
and to come to a common understanding with them
respecting the measures to be adopted for its
suppression. The kings of the earth were "plotting
against the Lord and his anointed," and although
willingly submitting to the cords with which the
chief ruler of the Seven-hilled City had bound
them, they were seeking how they might break the
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