Charles IX. (1560-74), a child-king of ten, was now pushed to the front. Catharine, as regent,1 tried to hold the balance between the two parties. But the Catholics, becoming exasperated, resented every concession to the Huguenots; while the Huguenots, growing exultant, often interrupted the worship and broke the images in the Catholic

treacheries, thickened fast. was shot in cold blood.

A Series of Eight Civil Wars, which, interrupted by seven short and unsteady treaties of peace, lasted, in all, over thirty Plots, murders,

years.

Guise was assassinated; Condé Navarre and Montmorenci, more

fortunate, fell in battle. Guise was succeeded by his brother Henry, while Navarre's place was taken by his gallant son, afterward Henry IV.

The Treaty of St. Germain, the third lull of hostilities in this bloody series, gave promise of permanence. Charles

1 It is noticeable that about this time a large part of Europe was governed by women, England, by Elizabeth; Spain, by Juana, princess regent; the Netherlands, by Margaret of Parma, acting as regent for Philip; Navarre, by Queen Jane; Scotland, by Mary; and Portugal, by the regent-mother, Catharine of Austria, sister of Charles V.

offered his sister Margaret in marriage to Henry of Navarre. The principal Huguenots flocked to Paris to witness the wedding festivities. Coligny won the confidence of the king, and an army was sent to aid the reformers in the Netherlands. Catharine, seeing her power waning, resolved to assassinate Coligny. The attempt failed; the Huguenots swore revenge. In alarm, Catharine with her friends decided to crush the Huguenot party at one horrible blow. With difficulty, Charles was persuaded to consent to

The Massacre of St. Bartholomew (August 24, 1572). Before daybreak the impatient Catharine gave the signal. Instantly lights gleamed from the windows. Bands of murderers thronged the streets. Guise himself hurried to Coligny's house; his attendants rushed in, found the old man at prayer, stabbed him to death, and threw his body from the window, that Guise might feast his eyes upon his fallen enemy. Everywhere echoed the cry, "Kill! kill!” The slaughter went on for days. In Paris alone ten thousand persons perished; while in the provinces each city had its own St. Bartholomew.

Result.-The Huguenots, dazed for a moment, flew to arms with the desperation of despair. Many moderate Catholics joined them. Charles, unable to banish from his eyes the horrible scenes of that fatal night, died at last a victim of remorse.

Henry III. (1574-89) next ascended the throne. Frivolous and vicious, he met with contempt on every side. The violent Catholics formed a "League to extirpate Heresy." Its leader was the Duke of Guise, who now threatened to become another Pepin to a second Childeric. The king had this dangerous rival assassinated in the royal cabinet. Paris rose in a frenzy at the death of its idol. Henry fled for protection to the Huguenot camp. A fanatic, instigated by

Guise's sister, entered his tent and stabbed the monarch to the heart. Thus ended the Valois line.1

Henry of Navarre (1589-1610) now became king as Henry IV., the first of the Bourbon House (p. 355). To crush the League, however, took five years more of war. The crisis came at Ivry, where the Huguenots followed Henry's white plume to a signal victory. Finally, in order to end the struggle, he abjured the Protestant religion. The next year he was crowned at Paris (1594).

Henry's Administration brought to France a sweet calm after the turmoil of war. By the Edict of Nantes (1598),

SULLY.

he granted toleration to the Huguenots. With his famous minister, Sully, he restored the finances, erected public edifices, built ships, encouraged silk manufacture, and endowed schools and libraries. The common people found in him a friend, and he often declared that he should not be content until "the poorest peasant in his realm had a fowl for his pot every Sunday." This

prosperous reign was cut short by the dagger of the assassin Ravaillac (1610).

1 It is a house distinguished for misfortunes. Every monarch save one (Charles V.) left a record of loss or shame. Philip VI. was defeated at Sluys and Crécy, and lost Calais. John, beaten at Poitiers, died a prisoner in England. Charles VI., conquered at Agincourt, was forced to acknowledge the English monarch heir of his kingdom. Charles VII. owed his crown to a peasant girl, and finally starved himself for fear of poisoning by his son. Louis XI., taken prisoner by Burgundy, was for days in danger of execution; he died hated by all. Charles VIII. and Louis XII. met reverses in Italy. Francis I. was taken prisoner at Pavia. Henry II. suffered the sting of the defeat at St. Quentin, and was slain in a tilting match. Francis II. fortunately died young. Charles IX. perished with the memory of St. Bartholomew resting upon him; and Henry III. was murdered.

V. ENGLAND UNDER THE TUDORS (1485-1603).

The Tudor Rule covered, in general, the sixteenth century. Then began the era of absolutism, such as Louis XI. had introduced into France, but which was curbed in England by the Charter, Parliament, and the free spirit of the people. The characteristic features of the period were the rise of Protestantism, the growth of commerce, and the development of learning and literature.

MARGARET.

JAMES V. OF SCOTLAND,

MARY QUEEN OF SCOTS.

TABLE OF THE TUDOR LINE.

HENRY VII. (1485-1509), m. ELIZABETH OF YORK.

HENRY VIII. (1509-47).

EDWARD VI. (1547). MARY (1553). ELIZABETH (1558).

JAMES VI. OF SCOTLAND, AND I. OF ENGLAND. Stuart Line (p. 494).

1. Henry VII. (1485-1509), hailed king on the field of Bosworth, by his marriage with Elizabeth of York blended the roses (p. 346). The ground-swell of the civil war, however, still agitated the country. Two impostors claimed the throne. Both were put down after much bloodshed. Henry's ruling trait was avarice. Promising to invade France, he secured supplies from Parliament, extorted from wealthy persons gifts,-curiously termed "benevolences," 1—crossed the Channel, made peace (secretly negotiated from the first) with Charles VIII. for £149,000, and returned home enriched at the expense of friend and foe. He punished the nobles with fines on every pretext, and his lawyers revived musty edicts and forgotten tenures in order to fill the royal coffers under the guise of law.

1 His favorite minister, Morton, devised a dilemma known as "Morton's fork," since a rich man was sure to be caught on one tine or the other. A frugal person was asked for money because he must have saved much, and an extravagant one because he had much to spend.

Henry's tyranny, however, reached only the great. He gave rest to the people. He favored the middle classes, and, by permitting the poorer nobles to sell their lands regardless of the "entail," enabled prosperous merchants to buy estates. He also encouraged commerce, and under his patronage the Cabots explored the coast of America.

In 1502 Henry's daughter Margaret was married to James IV. of Scotland. This wedding of the rose and the thistle paved the way to the union of the two kingdoms under the Stuarts, a century later.

2. Henry VIII. (1509-47) at eighteen succeeded to the throne and his father's wealth. For the first time since Richard II., the king had a clear title to the crown. Young, handsome, witty, fond of sport, and skillful in arms, Bluff King Hal, as he was called, was, in the first years of his reign, the most popular king in English history.

Foreign Relations.-While Henry was winning the battle of the Spurs (p. 432), Scotland as usual sided with France. James IV., though Henry's brother-in-law, invaded England. But on Flodden Field (1513) he was slain with the flower of the Scots. Soon England came, as we have seen, to hold the balance of power between Charles V. and Francis I. Lest either should grow too strong, Henry always took the part of the one who happened at the time to be the weaker. Such wars brought no good to any one.

Thomas Wolsey, the son of a butcher, who rose from a priest to be Archbishop of York, Lord Chancellor of England, Cardinal, and Papal Legate, was Henry's minister. He lived with almost royal splendor. His household comprised 500 nobles, and he was attended everywhere by a train of the first barons of the land. The direction of foreign and domestic affairs rested with him. As chancellor, he administered justice; as legate, he controlled the Church.