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

near a throne are the most slippery. The star of
Diana of Poictiers, as a matter of course, vanished
from the firmament where it had shone with bright
but baleful splendor. The Constable Montmorency
had a hint given him that his health would be
benefited by the air of his country-seat. The king
knew not, so he said to him, how to reward his
great merits, and recompense him for the toil he
had undergone in his service, save by relieving him
of the burden of affairs, in order that he might
enjoy his age in quiet, being resolved not to wear
him out as a vassal or servant, but always to honor
him as a father.[1] The proud Constable, grumbling
a little, strode off to his Castle of Chantilly, ten
leagues from Paris. The field cleared of these
parties, the contest for power henceforward lay
between the Guises and the Queen-mother.
Francis II was a lad of sixteen, and when we
think who had had the rearing of him, we are not
surprised to learn that he was without principles
and without morals. Feeble in mind and body, he
was a tool all the more fit for the hand of a bold
intriguer. At the foot of the throne from which she
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