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

out, and received from him money and
encouragement. But the same court that sent this
regiment to fight against the Duke of Alva, sent
secret information to the duke which enabled him
to surprise the Protestant soldiers on the march, and
cut them in pieces. "I have in my hands," wrote the
Duke of Alva to his master, Philip II, "a letter from
the King of France, which would strike you dumb
if you were to see it; for the moment it is expedient
to say nothing about it."[9] Another piece of equal
dissimulation did Charles IX practice about this
time. The little Party at the French court which was
opposed to the Spanish alliance, and in the same
measure favored the success of William of Orange
in Flanders, was headed by the Chancellor
l'Hopital. At the very time that Charles IX was
making Coligny believe that he had become a
convert to that plan, Chancellor l'Hopital was
deprived of the seals, and banished from court.[10]
The inconsistencies and doublings of Charles
IX. are just enough to give some little color to a
theory which has found some advocates -- namely,
that the St. Bartholomew Massacre was
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