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

The royal calvacade now drew nigh that quiet
spot on the shores of the Bay of Biscay where,
amid flourishing plantations and shrubs of almost
tropical luxuriance, and lines of strong forts,
nestles the little town of Bayonne--the "good bay"-
-a name its history has sadly belied. A narrow firth,
which terminates in a little bay, admits the waters
of the Atlantic within the walls of the town, and
permits the ships of friendly Powers to lie under
the shelter of its guns. The azure tops of the
Pyrenees appearing in the south notify to the
traveler that he has almost touched the frontier of
Spain. Here, in the chateau which still stands
crowning the height on the right of the harbor,
Catherine de Medici met the plenipotentiary of
Philip II.[2] The King of Spain did not come in
person, but sent his wife Elizabeth, the daughter of
this same Catherine de Medici, and sister of
Charles IX. Along with his queen came Philip's
general, the well-known Duke of Alva.
This man was inspired with an insane fury
against Protestantism, which, meeting a fanaticism
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