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

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Chapter 15<br />

The Marriage, and<br />

Preparations for the Massacre<br />

THE Queen <strong>of</strong> Navarre, the magnanimous<br />

Jeanne d'Albret, was dead; moreover, news had<br />

reached Paris that the Protestant troop which had<br />

set out <strong>to</strong> assist the Pr<strong>in</strong>ce <strong>of</strong> Orange had been<br />

overpowered and sla<strong>in</strong> on the road; and further, the<br />

great advocate <strong>of</strong> <strong>to</strong>leration, L'Hopital, dismissed<br />

from <strong>of</strong>fice, had been banished <strong>to</strong> his country-seat<br />

<strong>of</strong> Vignay. All was go<strong>in</strong>g amiss, save the promises<br />

and protests <strong>of</strong> the K<strong>in</strong>g and the Queen-mother,<br />

and these were grow<strong>in</strong>g louder and more emphatic<br />

every day.<br />

Some <strong>of</strong> the Huguenots, alarmed by these<br />

suspicious occurrences, were escap<strong>in</strong>g from the<br />

city, others were giv<strong>in</strong>g expression <strong>to</strong> their fears <strong>in</strong><br />

prognostications <strong>of</strong> evil. The Baron de Rosny,<br />

father <strong>of</strong> the celebrated Duke <strong>of</strong> Sully, said that "if<br />

the marriage <strong>to</strong>ok place at Paris the wedd<strong>in</strong>g<br />

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