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

Navarre. The king was uncertain which of the two
parties he should join. Roused suddenly from his
sensualities, craven in spirit, clouded in
understanding, and fallen in popular esteem, the
unhappy Henry saw but few followers around him.
Navarre offered to rally the Huguenots round him,
and support the crown, would he only declare on
their side. Henry hesitated; at last he threw himself
into the arms of the League, and, to cement the
union between himself and them, he revoked all the
privileges of the Protestants, and commanded them
to abjure their religion or leave the kingdom. The
treaty so recently framed was swept away. The war
was resumed with more bitterness than ever. It was
now that the brilliant military genius of Navarre,
"Henry of the White Plume," began to blaze forth.
Skillful to plan, cool and prompt to execute, never
hesitating to carry his white plume into the thick of
the fight, and never failing to bring it out
victoriously, Henry held his own in the presence of
the armies of the king and Guise. The war watered
afresh with blood the soil so often and so profusely
watered before, but it was without decisive results
on either side. One thing it made evident, namely,
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