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

unmistakable that this was the shape the Pope
meant his counsels to take, he proceeds to cite a
case in point from Old Testament history.
"Let your majesty take for example, and never
lose sight of, what happened to Saul, King of
Israel. He had received the orders of God, by the
mouth of the prophet Samuel, to fight and to
exterminate the infidel Amalekites, in such a way
that he should not spare one in any case, or under
any pretext. But he did not obey the will and the
voice of God... therefore he was deprived of his
throne and his life." If for Saul we read Charles IX,
and for the prophet Samuel we substitute Pius V, as
the writer clearly intended should be done, what is
this but a command addressed to the King of
France, on peril of his throne, to massacre all the
Huguenots in his realm, without sparing even one?
"By this example," continues the Pope, "God has
wished to teach all kings that to neglect the
vengeance of outrages done to him is to provoke
his wrath and indignation against themselves."
To Catherine de Medici, Pius V writes in still
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