Assassination of Admiral Coligny

The attempt on his life took place in the wake of the marriage between Navarre and Margaret of Valois a high-profile affair intended as a component of the Peace of Saint-Germain-en-Laye by Catherine de'Medici and her son Charles IX.

[7][4][8] Between this re-admission and August 1572, Coligny would however only be present at court for 5 weeks, and his influence would be highly limited, despite the fears of the militant Catholics that he was driving the king's policy.

[17] Frustrated at the failure of their strategy, the Guise family altered their approach, seeking to build a non confessional base to prosecute their feud, appealing to Condé by highlighting how Montmorency and the Châtillon were upstart houses compared to true princes like them.

[24] It was for reasons of pursuing this policy that Coligny made his return to court in August 1571, hoping to bring the king firmly on board with war with Spain.

[26] There are reports that Coligny transmitted a threat to the Spanish ambassador via Jérôme de Gondi implying he would kill him if he did not ensure the prisoners were treated well in the Netherlands.

[30] Catherine returned from a meeting at Châlons with her daughter, and obliged the council to re-open the debate on intervention, hoping to shut down Charles' ambiguous policy.

[26] Dark threats were emanating from some leading Huguenots during this time that they would savage the comte de Retz for his alleged promise to several ambassadors that he would ensure an anti-war resolution from the council.

[9] On 20 August a masquerade was held at the Hôtel du Bourbon, with the area turned into a paradise of nymphs, that Condé and Navarre with several Catholics attempted to enter, dressed as knights, but the gates were defended by the king and his brothers, who bested the attackers and locked them in hell.

[37] The atmosphere was uneasy in Paris and several nobles of the admiral's party, Blosset and Langoiran, departed from the city hastily on 21 August, desiring more friendly surrounds.

The Duke of Montmorency, governor of Paris had also departed the city, retiring to Chantilly with an 'illness,' though Estèbe contended that this was simply a pretext to get away from a potentially explosive situation.

[42] As he travelled he lost himself reading various papers when suddenly as he entered the rue des Poulies he was shot from an upper story barred window, by a man hiding behind a curtain.

News reached the Hôtel de Ville at 11am and the mayor and prêvot took measures to prevent disturbances, by guarding the gates of the city and mustering archers and arquebusiers.

[58] Shimizu highlights that Catherine would have had little place in a war council, and thus Coligny's Spanish designs impeded her political interests as he would surely dominate the court in such an eventuality.

[59] Estèbe places the blame for the attack on Condé at the feet of Catherine, Anjou, and Guise, with the latter acting as the 'fall guy' taking advantage of his feud with the Admiral for their royal ends.

[61] For much the same reason as with Catherine, Charles policy of seeking internal harmony in the post 1570 order makes it hard to imagine his being responsible for the assassination attempt.

To reinforce his authority over the kingdom internal peace was a fundamental requisite, and the attempt on Coligny was only liable to undermine that and push France towards civil war.

Ambassador Michel advances the argument that the problem with the Guise theory is that it would have been considered a breach of honour to make this audacious move in the king's presence.

[74] Bourgeon however challenges this, arguing de Thou and Segieur, two leading figures in the Parlement conspired together both to foment the violence and cover up any complicity in it by staging a strike among the Parlementaires so that they would not be sitting on any of the days that their plan was coming to fruition.

[81] For weeks Coligny had only been held off from attacking into the Netherlands by the needs to preserve internal peace during the marriage, with nothing to stop him now and 4000 horse and 12000 foot in the area nothing but his removal could prevent the enterprise.

The Protestants around Coligny were still debating how to proceed, the Vidame de Chartres made the call to depart Paris, no longer able to tolerate the hostile atmosphere.

[90] On return to Coligny's residence, the Admiral learned of the results of the preliminary inquiry, and it was resolved that the leading Huguenots would go to confront the duke the next day.

The Vidame de Chartres made one final attempt to persuade Coligny to abandon the city, highlighting the spread of false rumours about him on the street, the dark conversations happening in the Louvre and his better condition.

[90] Other Huguenots, sharing the Vidame's unease, refused to occupy the buildings vacated for them around Coligny, anxiety overriding loyalty to the Admiral, preferring instead to keep to the more secure faubourg Saint-Germain.

[91] In the afternoon the council meet in the Tuileries gardens, in attendance were Catherine, Charles, Retz, Tavannes, Nevers and René de Birague who had recently replaced Morvillier as Chancellor.

[55] Around 10pm Jean le Charron, the mayor of Paris, and Claude Marcel, former prêvot, were summoned to the Louvre, they were ordered to take all necessary steps to secure the capital, including shutting the gates, immobilising boats on the Seine, arming the militia and assembly artillery outside the Hôtel de Ville.

[98] In the final of the three meetings, at midnight, Guise, Aumale, Anjou, Angoulême and Montpensier drew up the specifics of the kill list that was to be enacted, and divided responsibility among themselves for handling the various targets.

[100] On 26 August Charles wrote to Mondoucet, explaining how in the wake of the initial assault on the Admiral, the leading Huguenots unable to await justice at his hands had planned to undertake revenge against everyone they held responsible.

[94] Jouanna affords the king more agency, and suggests that the continued threats of the Huguenot nobles to take justice into their own hands, reminding him of the forceful behaviour of Coligny in the past when advocating for the Spanish war caused him to agree to their liquidation.

[54] The Protestants, backed by their own private army, presented a challenge to Charles' uncontested royal authority, something he had been willing to put aside in the sake of peace, but which had become difficult in the light of the events that transpired on 23 August.

[105][111] Having successfully killed Coligny, Guise moved on to pursuit of his next target Gabriel de Lorges, Count of Montgomery but he had caught wind of what was unfolding and was attempting to leave the city.