1559–1562 French political crisis

In late 1561 the colloquy of Poissy attempted to achieve a religious synthesis between Protestantism and Catholicism, however it devolved into acrimony and in the wake of this failure, Guise, Lorraine and many of the other grandees departed from court in October.

By the beginning of 1562 Catherine, and her chancellor Michel de L'Hôpital had resolved that formal toleration of Protestantism would be necessary to sooth the troubles in the kingdom, and to this end published the Edict of Saint-Germain on 17 January.

In his final hours, Catherine ensured that Diane was afforded no access to her lovers bedside, and she further kept Montmorency away when her husband was unconscious, though on regaining consciousness Henri would insist on the Constable's return.

[12] As their pamphleteers were quick to observe, the very eye with which Henri had vowed to see the Protestant parlementaire (member of the French sovereign court) Anne du Bourg burn had been pierced with a lance.

[46] The Lorraine brothers were fearful of a Bourbon coup aimed at asserting the right of the princes du sang to the government of France, and to this end when they departed the Tournelles on 10 July after the death of the king, they ensured they were surrounded by their political allies, the duca di Ferrara and the duc de Nemours.

[47] The seigneur de Saint-André, Marshal of France, governor of the Lyonnais and former favourite of Henri II, kept himself on good terms with everyone and therefore was able to adapt to the ascendency of the Lorraine brothers in the new administration.

[50] Indeed, the cardinal de Lorraine was suspected by the priest Haton in 1558 as being part of the 'party of heretics', and the family was appealed to by the Protestant cantons of the Schweizerische Eidgenossenschaft after the persecutory edict of Compiègne to allow the king's subjects to live in peace.

[147][158][159] One of the parlementaire judges most associated with the ultra-wing of the chamber that had moved for du Bourgs execution, president Minard, was assassinated on 12 December while returning home from the palais de justice by masked gunmen.

[252] The assault launched on the château d'Amboise proper on 17 March by 200 men, among them Maligny le jeune, Bertrand de Chaidue and captain Cocqueville was bloodily repulsed by Guise personally.

[380] The governor of La Rochelle, the baron de Jarnac reported in September that ministers were working the countryside convincing people to disobey the king, and were planning on a meeting towards the end of the month at which they would carry out their illicit intentions.

[422] Meanwhile, the royal lieutenant La Garde visited in turn Sisteron, Manosque, Forcalquier, Pertuis and Mérindol trying to sooth the places of their agitation, and see to the readmittance of Protestants so that they would not join with the rebels outside the walls.

[432] Lyon was an attractive prize for the Amboise rebels, it was the second city of the kingdom, and its capture before the convening of an Estates General could prove a valuable bargaining chip to impose a settlement on the crown.

[439] The deputy governor urged that aid in the preservation of Lyon be given by La Motte-Gondrin and Maugiron (who would bring 300 arquebusiers to the city), the lieutenant-general of Bourgogne Tavannes and the comte de Montréval, lieutenant to the duca di Savoia in Bresse.

[529] Navarre, increasingly aware due to the surrounding royalist compagnies d'ordonnance that the government had retained the loyalty of a greater portion of the military nobility than he had counted on began to reduce the size of his entourage, and allow the firebrands with him to slip away.

[531] All the chevaliers of the ordre de Saint-Michel (of whom there were around 40 present) and grandees of court were summoned to François' chambers to renew their oaths of loyalty to him, with Guise proclaiming that his life, those of his children and his property would be in service of the king.

[568] During the days of Condé's captivity, Navarre participated in the conseil des affaires, went hunting with the king, and while maintaining a belief in his brothers innocence allowed himself to build relations with the cardinal de Lorraine and Catherine.

[633] The assembly in the city was packed with armed men who wore kerchiefs to identify each other, they ensured a rapturous reception for toleration of Protestantism and the seizure of church wealth and stopped any motions against these propositions from being tabled.

[669] The broader Ordonnance d'Orléans, promulgated on 31 January promised the suppression of venal (purchased) office, as requested by the Second Estate, reform to the process by which bishops were elected and regulation that they are to reside in their benefices instead of occupying the charges as absentees.

[679] The same day that the Estates General was brought to a close, Navarre, Coligny, cardinal de Châtillon, La Roche-sur-Yon and the bishop of Orléans put their backing behind a petition in council in favour of temples for Protestant worship.

[736] Montmorency was drawn to the new alignment by the disinterest the regency government took in his advice, his conservative Catholicism and the revolutionary attitude he sensed in the recent demands of the Estates General for an investigation into the doings of the grandees.

[745][744] A forged document produced by Protestants in 1562 claimed that the alliance also agreed to work together with España and Savoia towards the extirpation of heresy not only in France but the rest of Europe too and destroy the bloodline and name of the house of Bourbon.

Coligny and the queen of Navarre selected the date of 29 September for the festivities, by this means allowing the Protestant nobles an excuse to avoid attending the yearly Mass for the Ordre de Saint-Michel that was to be held on that day.

[834] A serious disturbance was narrowly avoided in Dijon on the evening before All Saints Day as Catholics threw stones at Protestants as they went to their illegal service which was being held across from the hôtel de ville (city hall).

[853] When a Rouennais citizen was found in possession of a list of 400 of the cities leading Protestants in September, he was executed on suspicion of being involved in anti-Protestant plot by a commission led by the duc de Bouillon.

[1020] On 9 September the colloquy proper opened, in attendance the royal family, the princes du sang, the councillors of the king, forty archbishops and bishops, twelve theologians and other canon lawyers.

The Catholic prelates present erupted in outrage, with the most firm among them the cardinal de Tournon exploding in a cry of 'blasphemy' before he turned and remarked to Catherine how she could possibly allow such horrible things to be said in front of the young king and her other children.

[735] These men, though members of the Catholic delegation at the colloquy refused to take communion from cardinal d'Armagnac or swear in favour of the real presence, as was demanded by the assembled clergy at large.

[1101] In response to the disorders that had consumed the south-west of France through the Autumn and Winter of 1561, and the relative timidity of the lieutenant-general of Guyenne (the seigneur de Burie) in confronting them, Monluc was given a commission to restore order through violent means.

Andelot was introduced into the royal council and the queen had Charles' more rigidly Catholic governor replaced with the prince de La Roche-sur-Yon, whose health led to fears that the king would in fact be governed by Coligny.

[1175] Jouanna distinguishes the motivations of Lorraine and Guise for the meeting, arguing the former had a more genuine interest in seeing a religious reunification on Lutheran lines while the latter wished for the neutrality of the German princes in the scenario of a civil war.