given to her and after her death the Chirurgions were not suffered to open her head where the mischief lay whereby it was the better concealed The Admiral was again advertised of his danger but he resting upon the testimony of a good conscience and the providence of God misinterpreted those advices as if they proceeded from men desirous of new troubles Many Lords and Gentlemen of the Religion accompanied the King of Navar and the Prince of Conde to Paris The King of France the better to delude the Protestants spake openly that he gave not his sister to the King of Navar only but as it were to the whole Church of the Protestants to joyn with them in an indissoluble union and as a tie to their peace and safety August 17. Anno 1572. The King of Navar and the Lady Margaret were married by the Cardinal of Bourborn upon a scaffold in the sight of all the people and that day was spent in banquets dances and masks with a strange mixture of Protestants and Papists together but in the mean time the Queen mother with her Privadoes as also the Duke of Anjou with the Guises consulted about killing the Admiral and dividing the Protestants Five dayes after as the Admiral came from the Court accompanied with about fifteen Gentlemen reading a petition as he went one shot at him with a Caliver the bullet taking away his right fore-finger hurt him in the left arm he that shot had a Spanish Jennet at the back-door of his lodging upon which he immediately mounted and escaped The door being burst open it was found that the Caliver left behind was brought to the house the day before by one Chally steward of the Kings house and a great dealer for the Duke of Guise the Admiral being conveyed to his lodging shewed most admirable piety patience and constancy The King complained of the mischief swearing and promising to execute such justice upon the offendor that the Admiral and all his friends should thinke themselves well satisfied He caused also all the gates of Paris to be shut swearing and blaspheming that he would not that they which had done the fact should escape he also appointed many Lords and Gentlemen of the Protestants to lodge in the Admirals quarter the better as he pretended to secure themselves against any danger After noon the King went to visit the Admiral and there with many Oaths and protestations assured him of his love to him care over him and them of the Religion and that he would severely punish the Authors of his present hurt Presently after the Vidame of Chartres John de Ferriers advised the King of Navar the Prince of Conde the Admiral and other chief Lords of the religion presently to depart out of Paris assuring them that that blow was but the beginning of the Tragedy which was soon to ensue but they trusting to the Kings word rested secure That day also the King wrote to the Ambassadors of forrein Princes and to the Governours of all his Provinces how much he was offended at the Admirals hurt how severely he would punish it yea he desired that all the world might know how much he was offended at it and the Queen-mother wrote the like In the mean time the Dukes of Anjou and Guise employed some to go from house to house to take the names of all the Protestants and to return the Catalogue to them so that presently after they of the Religion began to discover that some bloody intentions were hatching against the Admiral and his friend For the King set a guard of fifty Harquebushires at the Admirals gate Great store of Armes were carried into the Loure and about evening all the people were in Armes The chief of the Protestants hereupon assembled again in the Admirals lodging where the Vidame of Chartres advised as before that they should essay presently to carry the Admiral out of Paris and that the rest should presently dislodge yet all the rest refused this counsel resolving to relie upon the Kings word who had promised them Justice In the evening some Protestant Gentlemen proffered to watch with the Admiral but he would not suffer them At night the Duke of Guise sent for the Captain of the Switzers shewing him his Commission to kill the Admiral and all his partakers exhorting him and his men to be couragious in shedding of blood At midnight the Provost Sheriffs and Captains of every Ward had the same shewed them with assurance that through the whole Realm the like should be done to all the Protestants and that the watchword for the general Massacre should be the tolling of the Bell in the Palace to be rung at the break of day and the Badge of the Executioners should be a white Handkerchif tied on their armes and a white Crosse in their hats The Duke of Guise and his Associates were to begin at the Admirals lodging Some of the Protestants being awakened with the noise in the streets of men running up and down in armes and with torches gat up to enquire what was the matter but presently the Bell rung and the Duke of Guise with his cutthroats hasted to and knocked at the Admirals gates he that opened them was presently stabbed The Admiral hearing the noise gat out of bed and joyned with his Minister Master Merlin in fervent prayer commending his soul into the hands of God Then said he It is long since I disposed my self to die save you your selves if it be possible for you cannot save my life I commit my soul into the hands and mercy of God Then did Merlin his Minister and the rest get up to the top of the house and crept out of windows into the gutters to hide themselves yet most of them were slain in the next house Then seven or eight men brake into the Admirals chamber and one of them went to him with his naked sword offering him the point to whom he said Young man thou oughtest to respect any age and infirmity yet shalt thou not shorten my life with that he thrust him into the body and all the rest laid at him so that he fell to the ground where he lay gasping The Duke of Guise below called to them to throw his body out at window which they did his face being all bloody the Duke of Guise wiped it and looking on it said Now I know him it is he and so kicked him on the face with his foot whom all the murtherers in France feared so much when he was alive Then went he out into the streets crying Courage my fellows we have here made a good beginning let us now fall upon the rest the King commands it it is his expresse pleasure he commands it The Admirals head was sent to the King and queen-mother and by them sent to the Pope and Cardinal of Lorrain as a grateful present The Pope when he heard the newes set
apart a day of publick thanksgiving to God in the Church of St. Lewis and published a Bull of extraordinary Indulgences to such as should pray for the heavenly assistance to the King and Kingdome of France Strada The common people cut off the Admirals hands and privy members drawing his body about the streets three days and then hung it by the feet upon the Gallows All the Attendants of the King of Navar and Prince of Conde which lay in the Kings Palace were massacred the like was done to the Lords and Gentlemen that lay about the Admirals lodging and then through all the City were the Protestants murthered so that that night and the two next days there were slain in Paris about ten thousand persons of all ranks ages and sexes yea they spared not children in the Cradle nor infants in their mothers wombs But to colour this their villany they gave it out that the Huguenots had conspired to kill the King They boasted also that they had in one day done that which Processes sentences of Justice and open Warre could not do in twelve years The Lords and Gentlemen were most inhumanely muâ—thered some in their beds others on the roofs of their houses and in all other places wheresoever they were found There were at this time in Paris about sixty thousand men with pistols pikes curtelaces poinards knives and such other bloody instruments that ran up and down swearing and blaspheming the sacred Majesty of God cruelly massacring all that they met with The streets were covered with mangled bodies gates and doors defiled with blood Shoutings howlings of the murtherers mixed with the cries and groans of the dying the breaking open of doors and windows with the noise of guns and pistols all which made an hellish noise multitudes of dead bodies were thrown into the Seine which was died red with their blood The King certified the King of Navar and the Prince of Conde of all that was done saying that he saved their lives upon condition that they should renounce their Religion and turn Papists The King of Navar desired him not to force his conscience but to remember the Alliance so lately contracted betwixt them The Prince of Conde with more zeal told him that his body and estate were in his power to do with them what he pleased but for his Religion he was fully purposed not to forsake it but to remain constant therein to the losse of his life he put the King in minde also that he had given his faith to him and to those of the Religion and therefore he hoped he would not falsifie his oath c. This so enraged the King that he called him rebel and the sonne of a rebellious person with horrible threatnings that he should lose his head if within three days he altered not his mind The King and his Confidents perceiving that this Massacre would not quench the fire but rather stirre up the Protestants in other parts of the Kingdome to defend themselves they presently dispatched away letters to the Governours of Towns with expresse commands to masscacre all the Protestants yet at the same time the King wrote other letters wherein he laid the fault of the murther of the Admiral upon the Duke of Guise pretending that he had quieted all things in Paris and intended that his Edicts of pacification should hold inviolably Upon the receipt of the first letters the Papists fell upon the Protestants at Meaux Trois Orleance and other places and murthered them without all pity besides such as were massacred in Villages and Fields where they thought to save themselves so that in a few weeks there were above thirty thousand persons massacred in France But besides this general account some particulars deserve remembrance which are these that follow Monsieur de la Place President of the Court of Requests had a Captain armed that came into his house telling him that the Duke of Guise had slain the Admiral at the Kings appointment with many other Huguenots and that he was come to protect him in that common destruction only he desired a sight of the Gold and Silver that was in his house The L. de la Place amazed at his audaciousnesse asked him whether he thought that there was a King or no The Captain blaspheming willed him to go with him to know the Kings pleasure Hereupon the Lord went from him to secure himself Then did the Captain rifle his house taking above one thousand Crowns The Lord would have secured himself in three several houses all which refused to entertain him which caused him to go back to his own house again where he found his wife very heavy whom he rebuked discoursed to her of the promises told her that we must through many afflictions enter into the Kingdome of God c. which much comforted her Then calling his family together he made an exhortation to them went to prayer and began to read a chapter in Job with Calvins Exposition upon it Then went he to Prayer again resolving to suffer all torments or death rather than to do any thing that might be dishonorable to God Then came the Provost-Marshal with many Archers to his house pretending to secure him and safely to convey him to the King who would speak with him De la Place told him that he was most willing to do it but saw it impossible in regard of the horrible massacres committed every where without apparent danger of his life In brief presently after came the Provost of Merchants who would needs also have him to the King yet he would have excused it as before but the Provost would have no nay wherefore resolving upon death which he saw he could not avoid he embraced his wife wishing her above all things to continue in the fear of God and so went on his way boldly but in the street some murtherers that attended there for his coming with their daggers stabbed him and then pillaged him carrying his body into a stable and covering his face over with dung and the next day they threw him into the river Peter Ramus also the Kings Professor in Logick was not forgotten the murtherers breaking into the Colledge of Priests where he was massacred him then cast him out of the chamber-window so that his bowels issued out on the stones then was his body trailed through the streets and whipt by certain young Scholars who were set on by their Popish Tutors to do it A godly young man going early abroad on the Sabbath morning and hearing of the death of the Admiral and seeing the insurrection out of a singular child-like affection to his mother he hasted home informed her of the danger secured her in a place of great secresie after which he shut himself up in his study by Prayer to fit himself for death into which the murtherers breaking with battleaxes and staves so loaded him with blows on the
a most detestable manner The Minister was slain two Gentlemen and sixty others were hanged A widdow of great account redeemed the virginity of her only daughter with a great summe of mony but the villain that promised to defend her ravished her in her Mothers presence and then killed them both Yea after peace was proclaimed fourteen of the Religion coming thither were all slain In Nonnay Monsieur Chaumont having surprised the Town murthered many Protestants spitting out infinite and horrible blasphemies against God himself A Locksmith being commanded to despite and blaspheme God because he refused to do it was presently hewen in pieces for the same cause another was brained with the butt end of a musket A Naylor because he would not give himself to the Divel was drawn about his shop by the ears then being laid on his Anvile they beat his head in pieces with hammers yea all manner of cruelty was used that could be devised Three of the principal in the Town were thrown down from an high Tower many other were thrown down to make sport Some were burnt in their houses others thrown out at windows others stabbed in the streets women and maids were most shamefully handled a young woman that was found hid in an house with her husband was first ravished before her husbands face then forced to hold a Rapier wherewith one thrusting her arme made her kill her own husband In Foix many Protestants were cast into prison of whom some had their armes and legs cut off and then were beheaded Some burnt some hanged and others sent to the Gallies In Aurange they killed the Protestants without distinction of age sex or quality Some they stabbed others they threw upon the points of Halberds Some they hanged others they burnt in the Churches Of some they cut off their privy members sparing neither old nor bedrid nor the diseased in the Hospitals Women and maids were killed others hanged out at windows were harquebushed sucking children massacred at their mothers breasts girls of five or six years old ravished and spoiled the wounds of the dead were filled with leaves torne out of Bibles Those in the Castle yielding upon oath and promise of safety were all stabbed or thrown over the wals being one hundred and ninety of them In Grenoble they slew many of the Religion and others they cast from the Bridge into the River In Cisterno the men that were of the Religion being fled the popish party fell upon the women and children whereof they slew three or foure hundred Some women with child were rip 't up many were buried quick Some had their throats cut like sheep others were drawn through the streets and beaten to death with clubs In Beaune they were bereaved of the exercise of Religion their three Ministers imprisoned many were driven out of the Town to the number of eight hundred persons with women and children their houses were filled with souldiers who made spoile of all such as were found in their houses were vilely abused and some were slain In Mascon the bloody Persecutors having apprehended a godly and learned Minister called Bonnet Bor who was of a very unblameable life having served twenty years in the Ministry and in that time had been put to his ransome three times they carried him along the streets with a thousand scoffs and scorns smiting him with their fists thrusting him up and down and then made a Proclamation That whosoever would hear this holy man preach should come to the slaughter-house at which place they again buffeted and mocked him two hours together Hereupon he requested them that before his death they would permit him to pray to God Then one stepping to him cut off half his nose and one of his ears saying Now pray as long as thou wilt and then we will send thee to all the Divels and so this holy man kneeling down prayed with such fervency of spirit that drew sighs from some of the Murtherers and aftervvards directing his speech to him that had cut off his nose he said Friend I am now ready to suffer what thou hast further to inflict upon me But I intreat thee and thy companions to bethink you well of the outrages committed by you against this poor City for there is a God in heaven before whose Tribunal you must shortly give an account of these your cruelties A Captain passing by cryed send that wretched man to the Divel which one of them hearing took him by the hand pretending to have him to the river to wash off his blood but when he came thither he threw him into it battering him with stones till he was drowned CHAP. XXXV The History of the Massacre at Paris ANNO 1571. After the end of the third Civil War in France great means was used to draw the chief of the Protestants to Paris under pretence of a marriage between the Prince of Navar and the Lady Margaret sister to the King of France but in the mean time the Papists in Roan murthered divers Protestants as they came from a Sermon and grievously beat others this seemed much to displease the King and three or four were executed for the mutiny then were the Articles of marriage agreed upon The place for it Paris and the Admiral sent to by the King to be present at the wedding and to prevent all Jealousies those of the house of Guise were sent away whereat they seemed much discontented The Admiral was allowed to bring with him fifty Gentlemen armed for his greater security When he came to Paris he was honourably received and conducted to the King who calls him his Father protesting that in all his life he had not seen any day more agreeable to his mind than that wherein he assured himself to see the end of all troubles and the beginning of firm peace and quietness in his Realm the Queen-mother and the rest of the great Courtiers received him with greater favour than he expected Then did the King send him one hundred thousand Franks out of his treasury for the losses which he had received in the wars c. The Admiral had divers advertisements of the intended treachery yet God so blinded him at that time though a very prudent man that he gave little heed to them Yea such a general stupidity seized upon the Protestants that their minds were very wavering and few there were that shewed themselves zealously bent to Religion but all both great and small thinking deeply upon worldly matters built them goodly Castles in the aire Then was the Queen of Navar sent for by the King of France to Paris to prepare all things against the wedding but presently after her coming she fell sick of a Feavor made her will in a most Christian manner had much inward joy and comfort and at five dayes end died not without suspition of poison from certain perfumes