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

decisively in favor of the king. The army of the
League was totally routed, and fled from the field,
leaving its cannon and standards behind it to
become the trophies of the victors.[1]
This victory, won over great odds, was a
second lesson to Henry of the same import as the
first. But he was trying to profess two creeds, and
"a double-minded man is unstable in all his ways."
This fatal instability caused Henry to falter when
he was on the point of winning all. Had he marched
direct on Paris, the League, stunned by the blow he
had just dealt it, would have been easily crushed;
the fall of the capital would have followed, and,
with Paris as the seat of his government, his cause
would have been completely triumphant. He
hesitated--he halted; his enthusiasm seemed to
have spent itself on the battlefield. He had won a
victory, but his indecision permitted its fruits to
escape him. All that year was spent in small
affairs-- in the sieges of towns which contributed
nothing to his main object. The League had time to
recruit itself. The Duke of Parma-- the most
illustrious general of the age--came to its help.
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