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

a genius for war, and generous dispositions, the
Bourbons aspired to fill the first posts in the
kingdom. Their pretensions were often
troublesome to the reigming monarch, who found it
necessary at times to visit their haughty bearing
with temporary banishment from court. They were
under this cloud at the time when Henry II died. On
the accession of Francis II they resolved on
returning to court and resuming their old influence
in the government; but to their chagrin they found
those places which they thought they, as princes of
the blood, should have held, already possessed by
the Guises. The latter united with the Queenmother
in repelling their advances, and the
Bourbons had again to retire, and to seek amid the
parties of the country that influence which they
were denied in the administration.
Anthony de Bourbon had married Jeanne
d'Albret, who was the most illustrious woman of
her time, and one of the most illustrious women in
all history. She was the daughter of Margaret of
Valois, Queen of Navarre, whose genius she
inherited, and whom she surpassed in her gifts of
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