The Memoirs

Accession of Henri IV

It was the opinion of many people that the deaths of the Duke of Guise and of the Queen Mother would put a stop to the civil war, but M. du Plessis did not agree. He explained his reasons in two letters which he wrote at La Rochelle to the King of Navarre, who was at St Jean d'Angely, and which he sent by the hand of M. de Frontenac, the bearer of the news of the Duke's death. Briefly he wrote as follows : " The King of Navarre ought to praise God, not so much because he was rid of a formidable enemy, as because this enemy's death stained neither his hand nor his conscience ; but that he must not look for peace as a result of this death because, without doubt, horror at the deed would rouse the nation and arm the Duke of Mayenne ; that for the next four months the King (of France) would not dare to appeal to him lest his devotion to Catholicism should seem less than before ; and that, finally, it was greatly to be hoped that the Duke of Mayenne would show a bold front so that the King might have the more reason and need for appealing for help." When the King of Navarre, fresh from hearing the joyful news, read this he exclaimed : " These are but cold words to write on such news." The people of La Rochelle talked of illuminating the town, but M. du Plessis was against it and would not allow it, saying that there was abundant reason for adoring the judgments of God but none for rejoicing, as it were, over a human sacrifice. Indeed he often regretted that the late King, being driven to meet conspiracy with

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violence, had not justified the necessity and justice of his deed before Christendom by bringing the Duke to a solemn trial.

The Duke of Mayenne carried on the war against the King of France and several towns surrendered to him and everything conspired to show that no peace could be made between them. The King of Navarre went to La Rochelle and to free himself from all business he left M. du Plessis and his Council at Niort. Thither I went to meet my husband. That very same day, however, the King of Navarre sent for him in such urgent haste that he rode all night and reached the King at his levee. The King took him apart into a gallery and, saying that he would never decide on matters of real importance without consulting him, told him of several projected plans. One was for an attack on Brouage, another on Saintes, and he explained how these schemes could be carried out, adding that before he went any further he wanted M. du Plessis' advice. M. du Plessis replied that an attack on either Brouage or Saintes was a fine project and worthy of him, but that neither could be carried through in less than two months while France in the meantime would be perishing and helpless. The King of Navarre should rather turn his thoughts to her salvation and, according to his own belief, His Majesty ought to march on the Loire without loss of time and with the best equipment and troops he could muster. There was a project on foot against Saumur which, if it succeeded, would give him a passage across the Loire ; if it failed he must then seize all the towns on this side of the river so that the King (of France), feeling himself between two hostile forces and unable to withstand either, would make peace with the one he had least deeply offended, to wit with the King of Navarre. This advice so pleased the King of Navarre that he gave M. du Plessis his hand in pledge that he would follow it and that no one should turn him aside, for in truth all his council was against it, as various members have since confessed. This matter settled, the King

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of Navarre bade him ride back to Niort and to keep four cannon and their train in readiness. This M. du Plessis managed to do although he had to get the equipage together anyhow and change it after every day's march. I can truthfully say I never saw him put to greater trouble in his life. However, it was obvious that he must needs make a virtue of necessity.

This march on the Loire succeeded so completely that France reaps the benefit of it to this very day. Learning on his way that the attempt on Saumur had failed he went straight on and, without so much as seeing the cannon, Loudun, CMtellerault, Monstreuil Bellay, L'Isle Bouchard, and Thouars opened their gates, and the King of Navarre and his army arrived within three leagues of Tours in perfect safety. There his forces and the King's drank from the same brook, drawn together by mutual need, and without asking any questions or waiting for any treaty. Between St Maure and Chatellerault M. de Buhy, M. du Plessis' elder brother, arrived under cover of paying his brother a visit with the permission of the King of France. When M. du Plessis heard of his brother's arrival he turned to the King, his master, saying, although he had no certain knowledge to go on, " Sire, give thanks to God. Everything is going right. My brother does not come to see me. He comes to treat with you on the King's behalf." Seeing that the treaty, which was in truth proposed by M. de Buhy, advanced but slowly, article by article, the King of Navarre let M. du Plessis know that it would be well for him to go and see the King himself and hasten matters. This was not an easy thing to do, considering all that had come and gone in the past ; but, putting his trust in the knowledge that he went for the good of France and for the salvation of the King and kingdom, M. du Plessis contrived to slip into Tours one evening without a passport. The King was extremely afraid lest the Nuncio should hear of it and therefore bade M. du Plessis to come to him at ten o'clock that night. He found the

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King much more ready to negotiate with the protestant party than he had ever been before, and he augured well from this. A few days later this mission resulted in a truce between the two Kings and the articles were published on April 1589. In accordance with these articles the town of Saumur was handed over to the King of Navarre, and with the consent of both Kings M. du Plessis was appointed to the command of the town as Lieutenant du Roi. The late King often declared that his high opinion of M. du Plessis and his certainty that his subjects would be treated well by him were not the least of the reasons which made him agree to the appointment. The secret articles of the truce (the others are well known to every one) were as follows : That the protestants should not be subject to attack throughout the whole of France : that before the truce expired the King should make peace : that in the meantime protestant worship could be held anywhere in the King of Navarre's army, in any place where the said King might be and also in whatever town chosen for his passage across the Loire. This was to have been Pont de Ce" but as the Governor of that town made difficulties, Saumur had to be chosen instead, on the understanding that protestant worship was not to be held publicly for the first four months. This arrangement was scrupulously observed by M. du Plessis and no services were held during this stipulated period except in his own house. As for the other towns and the provinces it was agreed that in each baillage the King of Navarre might have one place selected where worship could be held provided that the said place acknowledged the King's authority and was neither the residence of a Bishop nor of a chef du Baillage. As for the ministers of the Gospel in those provinces in which the protestants had taken up arms the King agreed that their salaries should be continued at the rate of 200 crowns per annum, for all alike, to be paid out of the decimes des generalites in each province. There was great opposition to this last clause because, as there were already

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charges on the decimes it was ordered that they should be paid twice over so as to meet both claims.

It is inconceivable what difficulties arose during this negotiation. They can be studied in the letters which passed between the King of Navarre and M. du Plessis discussing every tiny detail. There were even some people who persuaded the King of Navarre that he was being tricked and that the whole negotiation was nothing but a court jest so that he was induced to treat with a certain Captain Pol, lieutenant to M. de Lessart, the Governor of Saumur, for the delivery of that town into his hands for the sum of eight thousand crowns. This Captain Pol was really plotting to seize the King of Navarre and his followers under the pretence of dealing honestly with him, and the plot was only frustrated by M. du Plessis' arrival at Gonnor just as the troops were starting for Saumur. M. du Plessis plainly told the King of Navarre that he would call down the curse of France on his head if he went, and that all his hopes would be shattered just because of his love of a frolic, and because he preferred to force his way over the river than cross it peacefully at the summons of the King, who was only waiting to admit him into France. On his part M. de Buhy was of immense service in combating the King's distrust and in inducing him to rely whole-heartedly on the King of Navarre's assistance, in spite of allegations on the one hand that the said King had been too deeply injured for his offers to be honest, and on the other too weak for them to be of any use. However, an end was reached at last and on the 15 th of April 1589 M. du Plessis marched into Saumur without any opposition and established a garrison there taken from M. de Pr^aux' regiment. He pledged the King of Navarre on his own security for the sum of 8000 crowns to be paid to M. de Lessart and M. de Lestelle, deeming the money was due to them rather than to the Captain Pol to whom the King of Navarre had promised it. This money was duly paid to them by M. du Plessis later on. M. du Plessis took

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his oath at the city gate in the presence of M. de Beaulieu Ruze,1 Secretary of State, who thereupon gave the keys of the city into his hands. This delivery of Saumur was thought to be a matter of such importance by all responsible men that unknown to the King a number of people at Tours privately subscribed 10,000 crowns among themselves, which they gave to M. de Lessart on condition that he should make no difficulty about giving up the town. This was over and above the adequate recompense which the King gave him both in money down and in land out of the royal domain. At the same time the King of Navarre's declaration on his crossing the Loire was published, which was written by M. du Plessis by the command and pleasure of the late King. This declaration was read aloud to His Majesty, word by word, and approved by him before it was printed.

On the 17th April the King of Navarre made his entry into Saumur and three days later rode off towards Chateau du Loir in the hope of falling in with some of the Duke of Mayenne's troops. This attempt was, however, countermanded by the King (of France) who had been warned that the Duke of Mayenne was on the march with all his forces, and so the King of Navarre turned aside to Maille. Thence, not without great unwillingness on the part of his followers and many doubts in his own mind, he went to kiss the King's hand at Plessis-les-Tours, relying solely on the honour of his escort, the Marechal d'Aumont.2 The meeting between the two Kings was deeply moving, not only from the perfect frankness with which they met each other, after all that had come and gone, but also from the joy which lit up the faces of all those present who felt that the salvation of France depended upon it. Every eye turned to gaze on the King of Navarre whose great-heartedness was shown by his coming. Immediately the interview

1 Martin Ruze de Beaulieu, Secretaire des Finances from 1588-1606.

2 Jean d'Aumont, 1522-1595, Marshal of France, supported Henri de Navarre on the death of Henri III.

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was over the King of Navarre wrote to M. du Plessis to relate all that had happened and his satisfaction at his reception. M. du Plessis replied in a letter which began with these words, " Sire, you have done exactly what you ought to have done, but what no one dared advise you to do."

A few days after this meeting of the two Kings, while the King of Navarre was away with his troops in the neighbourhood of Chinon, M. de Mayenne attacked St Siphorian, a suburb of Tours north of the river, and did a great deal of damage. There was a furious skirmish there to the great alarm of the town, and the citizens loudly called on the King of Navarre for help, although the King (of France) was himself present. There was such a scarcity of munitions that the King sent a courier to ride post-haste all night to Saumur, to beg M. du Plessis to dispatch twenty hundredweight of powder without loss of time. The King also warned him to set a guard in the suburb of Saumur known as La Croix Verte. M. du Plessis lodged four companies of foot-soldiers there protecting them with some sort of slight barricades. A few days later he began the fortifications with all speed such as still exist at the present day. About this same time I arrived at Saumur with all our household, to be near to M. du Plessis. I must confess that, if we were to be driven from our own home in so good a cause I had always longed for some settled place of abode •/ where we could live with our children. The governorship first of Castres and then of Albret, on the death of the Count de Gurson, and of other places as well had been suggested, but the King of Navarre would not seriously consider them because he could not do without M. du Plessis' constant attendance. But God, whose will it was that we should leave all things inHis hands, provided this refuge for us at the time and in the place where we could best serve both His Church and our own affairs.

M. du Plessis was incapacitated from accompanying the two Kings on their journey to Paris by a violent attack of

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tertiary fever. It was brought on by all the heavy work he had gone through and it lasted for fully forty-nine fits. But the length of the attack was due to the sickness of the times rather than to his own illness, because everything that happened through these months did more to aggravate his suffering than all that diet and medicine could do to cure it. I took him to Tours by boat, ill as he was, partly on business connected with his Governorship and partly for a consultation with the doctors on his malady. Two leagues short of Tours, whilst we rested in a little inn, two letters were delivered to him, one close on the top of the other. The first was from M. de St Martin de Villangluse the other from M. de Montlouet and both brought by messengers riding posthaste. The first letter said that wherever M. du Plessis was when the letter reached him he was not to budge before he had spoken with a gentleman who was on his way to find him ; the other, that in whatever place he was found he was to hurry on as fast as ever he could. These contradictory instructions threw him into a great perplexity, and all the more because on questioning M. de Montlouet's messenger he learnt that there was a rumour that one of the two Kings was dead. On hearing this such a violent access of sorrow seized him that he flung himself down on the bed. At this moment M. de Lambert, of Perigord, a gentleman-in-waiting to the King of Navarre, and the younger Armagnac, his first valet, arrived as messengers from both the King himself and the King of Navarre. They told him the whole story. They carried a letter from the King in which he described the wound of which he died two hours after writing this letter. From the King of Navarre they brought messages telling M. du Plessis of the King's death. His Majesty, they said, placed himself in M. du Plessis' hands in everything relating to his service in our parts, regretting his illness but yet congratulating himself that at least it had kept him on the Loire. More particularly he charged him to find a way to get the Cardinal

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de Bourbon1 out of Chinon and away from M. de Chavigny at whatever cost, even to all he had, because if once the Cardinal regained his freedom he would proclaim himself King. On hearing this news M. du Plessis returned at once to Saumur without pursuing his journeyfurther. He travelled all through the night, racked with fever. In the boat on the way down he wrote several dispatches foreseeing that the King's faithful servants would need troops to hold the towns. As soon as each message was written he set one of his men ashore with orders to ride post to the town nearest to the landing-place. It was a most fortunate move on his part for in consequence M. de Parabere, Governor of Niort, came straight to Saumur with part of the regiment under him, and thus, when the loyal citizens of the King at Tours asked M. du Plessis for help, he was able to beg M. de Parabere to go to their succour. And very welcome he was. Others of his friends also came to his aid so that he could strengthen M. de Chavigny at Chinon. At Saumur, although he was aware that the governors in all the neighbouring towns were disarming the inhabitants, he decided to leave things as they were lest the contrary behaviour should be taken as a sign of weakness or fear. And it was our poor town which, in the midst of alarms on all sides, became the refuge of all the princesses and great ladies who had been living at Tours up till now.

During the whole of this harassing time I can truthfully say that I never saw him free from business for a single moment even in the midst of his attacks of fever. He was the mainstay of all loyal servants of the King and the State in our parts, who came or wrote to him for advice all day long. Even members of the Parliament of Paris,2 then sitting at Tours under the presidency of

1 Charles de Bourbon, Cardinal, uncle of Henri de Navarre. The League chose him as successor to Henri III. After the assassination of the Due de Guise Henri III had placed him in confinement under M. de Chavigny.

2 A part of the Parlement de Paris left Paris after the Journee des Barricades, 12th May 1588, and supported Henri III, while a part stayed on and adhered to the League.

Q

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M. d'Espesses, one of the most important men at this time, were in constant communication with him. There is nothing now improper in saying that things had come to such a pass, even in the opinion of some of the best men, that the parliament determined to advise the King to agree that he and the Cardinal de Bourbon should reign together, by mutual agreement and with the same Council, the one to content the catholics and the other the protestants, just as had been done by certain Emperors according to what was alleged. One of the most prominent members of the court of Parliament came to propose this scheme to M. du Plessis on behalf of his colleagues, adding that they would not press it if it were against his opinion. M. du Plessis replied that they did him too much honour by consulting him but that they must pardon him if he said that they spoke like men unaccustomed to difficulties such as the present ; that time could disentangle many things that seemed beyond the wit of man to remedy ; that God could bring to pass in a moment things that time could only achieve by a slow process ; and that if they had patience they would soon find themselves free from their present anxiety. In the meantime he was busy bargaining to get the Cardinal de Bourbon out of Chinon. He had himself carried to Monsoreau whither I accompanied him, and there he arranged with Mme de Chavigny through the mediation of the Duchess d'Angouleme x that the Cardinal should be handed over to him to be treated in whatever manner the King commanded. The conditions agreed on were as follows : that 2000 crowns were to be given immediately to M. de Chavigny to pay the garrison of Chinon, which sum M. du Plessis raised on loan without loss of time so that the agreement should not run the risk of falling through. Further, when the Cardinal was handed over, 6000 crowns were to be paid at once to M. de Chavigny and 14,000 more in six months' time secured on M. du Plessis' word. A day or two before this

1 Diane, legitimized daughter of Henri II.

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bargain was concluded M. de Manou, M. d'O's ' brother, came on a similar errand from the King to M. de Chavigny but he met with no success. The day was fixed for M. du Plessis to come for the Cardinal and to make everything as safe as possible it was arranged that Messrs de la Boulaye, de Parabere, de Feuqueres (my first husband's nephew) and de Choupes should meet at a certain place on the river Vienne near to Chinon. This they did, bringing quite a large force with them by good fortune. The affair was not altogether free from difficulty for M. de la Chatre ' was planning to attack Chinon and free the Cardinal ; he was also secretly trying what bribes could do to help. Also the Cardinal de Vendome 8 and the Comte de Soissons both angrily threatened M. de Chavigny by letters sent express, if he should dare to let his prisoner leave his hands. On the very day appointed the Comte de Soissons was at Langest with his troops and the Due d'Epernon * at Noatre with his, quite enough between them to have stopped the whole thing.

In spite of everything M. du Plessis believed that waiting would only make things worse, and so, ill as he was, he mounted a-horseback and rode with a few of his friends to Chinon to take charge of the Cardinal. He was received by M. de Chavigny in the most friendly manner and with every sign of perfect confidence. M. du Plessis took the Cardinal across the Vienne without loss of time and on the further bank found Messrs de la Boulaye, de Parabere and de Choupes drawn up for battle and ready to escort them to Loudun. The 6000 crowns had been paid down to M. de Chavigny ; as for the fourteen thousand instead of paying them down a charge of fourteen hundred crowns per annum on the tallies of the election of Rochelle was settled on him.

1 Francois, Marquis d'O, favourite of Henri III, Surintendant des Finances, supported Henri de Navarre on death of Henri III.

2 Claude de la Chatre, 1536-1614 ; created Marshal of France by the Due de Mayenne ; later supported Henri IV.

3 Charles de Bourbon, 4th son of Louis, 1st Prince de Conde

4 Jean Louis de Nogaret, favourite of Henri III ; submitted to Henri IV 1596.

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I have heard M. du Plessis relate that the Cardinal tried hard to delay his departure but that he cut him short by telling him that he must be ready in half an hour. When the Cardinal protested that he had no litter, nor mules, nor coach he was told that everything he could want had been provided so that there was no excuse for delay. He was much afraid of being taken to La Rochelle but he was assured that this was not to be done ; then he asked to be taken to Saumur which was a request that M. du Plessis had the King's authority to grant. Several of M. du Plessis' friends urged him to consent on several grounds of great weight but he refused because he felt he would imprison himself by becoming the guardian of so important a prisoner. The worst was that by evening M. du Plessis fell desperately ill of diarrhoea at Loudun brought on by the weak state of his health after four months of ague, and this made it impossible for him to escort the Cardinal any further. This was a bitter blow to his prisoner who had the most complete confidence in him. They all agreed that the Cardinal should be conveyed to the Abbey of Mailezais (in Poitou) and arranged together the method of guarding him. M. de la Boulaye and M. de Parabere jointly undertook to escort him and M. de la Boulaye agreed to act as his guardian. M. de la Boulaye gave a solemn promise to M. du Plessis, on his honour and his faith and signed with his hand, to yield the prisoner to the King or to anyone appointed by him when and where His Majesty should please to command. M. du Plessis gave him two of his Swiss who were always to sleep at the door of the Cardinal's room. Having thus brought off his enterprise M. du Plessis sent off one of his men, called du Morier, to tell the King whom he found at Dieppe and who was overjoyed at the news. He asked for all particulars most carefully and then said : " This is one of the finest bits of service anyone could do me ; M. du Plessis makes very sure of what he undertakes." The truth is M. du Plessis carried this enterprise through at a time when

HENWCV* REH QALLIj€

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HENRI IV

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the King was as good as besieged in Dieppe and when his best friends despaired not only of his cause but even of his personal safety.

Among his papers there are a number of notes dealing with the advice he gave the King on his accession to the throne, as well as dispatches both home and foreign and so forth. I will limit myself to two points only. The first was this : that to avoid making any declaration on the subject of religion, as no doubt he would be pressed to do, the King should declare that he could think of nothing whatever until the late King's death was avenged, and that he called on all good Frenchmen to join with him in a crusade in pursuit of so just a vengeance. The second point was this : that to avoid using terms in dispatches which might be unsuitable to the religion he professed and give offence to his co-religionists both at home and abroad, His Majesty should select one of his former Secretaries of State whom he should command to write for him in cases where such difficulties might arise. In fact for want of some such arrangement certain persons were deeply offended whom it has since proved very difficult to appease.

While M. du Plessis was at Loudun the Court of Parliament at Tours sent a warning by M. de Vallegran, brother of M. de Belesbat the chancellor of Navarre and the counsel for the prosecution in this case, that a Cordelier, called Father Marel, who was executed at Tours had confessed that two other monks had left Vendome with him disguised as laymen and with their tonsures hidden, for the purpose of killing M. du Plessis. Orders being at once issued to be on the watch one of these monks was arrested at Loudun ; his name was Andre* Fouquet and he was recognized by certain peculiarities described by the said Marel. Being examined by the judge of the Prevotd of Loudun he avowed his design and gave the names of those who had instigated it. Fearing that he should be thought to bias the course of justice at Loudun, as he belonged to a different religion

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to the monk, M. du Plessis sent him before the Cour de Parlement at Tours, where he was judged and condemned. Through the diligence of the members of the said court the third man was taken prisoner at Chatellerault but through the treachery, or at least the connivance of M. de Rouet, the Governor of that town, he was liberated in a riot fomented for this very purpose among the townspeople.

As soon as he recovered his strength after his return to Saumur M. du Plessis swept the League out of several forts which its adherents had seized in the vicinity of the town. This done the King sent to him from Tours bidding him join him there and from thence he accompanied His Majesty to the siege of Mans and shared in such other exploits as turned up. His Majesty, whom he had not yet seen since his accession to the throne, showed him in every possible way how highly he valued his services. The first suggestion which M. du Plessis made to the King was the re-establishment of the (protestant) Church by a public Edict. He argued that private and underhand methods would never succeed but would merely excite opposition at every turn. His Majesty took all this in very good part. While they were both listening to a (protestant) sermon in the Abbey of La Couture in a suburb of Mans the King beckoned to M. du Plessis before all the congregation, and whispered in his ear, " Who would have dared to foretell two years ago that the Gospel would be preached at Mans ? " " Nor to tell you, Sire," he replied, " that it would be preached in the King of France's hall."

Certain people at this time urged His Majesty to merge his patrimony with the royal domain but M. du Plessis successfully prevented this in consideration of Madame, the King's only sister. He pointed out that if the King followed this advice his patrimony would become entailed as the royal domain was. It would follow that if he should die childless his sister would be ousted from the succession ; if he should have only

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daughters they could get nothing from either source ; if he should have younger sons he could leave them nothing from his patrimony ; if he wanted to raise money his private property, left as it was, could be sold outright for 60, 80 or even 100 per cent, of its value, while if it were converted into crown lands he could get no more than 10 or 12 per cent, for the life interest on it. And moreover he would wrong many of his creditors who had charges on his patrimony by changing the nature of his tenure. Hearing all which arguments His Majesty replied that he would have nothing to do with the proposed change in spite of what anyone said. Calling up the Marshal de Biron ' he said to him, " I have always felt sure that I ought not to unite my patrimony to the Crown lands but I never clearly understood why until I listened to M. du Plessis' explanations, and now I want you to listen to them too." The Marshal was ever afterwards of the same opinion and I may add that M. du Plessis did Madame, the King's sister, a very important service in the matter. The result was a declaration against uniting the King's patrimony to the royal domain but it has not yet been registered in Parliament. I have often heard M. du Plessis regret that the King had not contented himself with retaining possession without any reference to the Court of Parliament which had its own reasons for refusing its consent at that time.

The King next commanded him to escort the Duchess of Montmorenci as far as Saintonge on her way to rejoin her husband in Languedoc, which he did. The lady carried with her a promise of the Constableship of France. His return to Saumur fell about the end of the year 1589 and he stayed at home till early in the following year. He spent his time in driving out what was left of the enemy from the Senechaussee of Saumur and the rest of the country under his charge. He left Saumur very hastily on a summons from the King to join him on the field of battle, and spent almost the whole of the year

1 Armand de Gontaut, baron de Biron, Marshal of France, 1524-1592.

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1590 at the King's side. From Chateaudun he wrote me the following letter :

" Sweetheart. Letters from His Majesty made me hurry away for it seems that M. de Mayenne is about to cross the river. God is with us and will bring their insolence and our misery to an end. Here in this place the Gospel is preached publicly, there have been several baptisms and worthy men are filled with a great sense of consolation. It is a good omen. These things are not done without giving rise to murmurs and there may be complaints ; however, in the King's army they are legal and so I suppose may be done wherever his troops are. I am writing to M. d'Espina to ask him to offer up public prayers ; I know family ones will not be wanting. Let us rest in God who orders all things. We are strong in God, in natural right and in justice. Human means will not fail us. If it comes to a battle victory is certain. Thou shalt soon have news of us, so do not let thyself worry for God will give thee joy and our prayers be changed into thanksgivings.

"Written at Chateaudun, the 9th March 1590, at nine o'clock at night."

M. du Plessis reached the King on the 13th of March and on the 14th the battle of Ivry was fought between the King and the Duke of Mayenne. He brought the King eighty men at arms and as many mounted harquebusiers as well as 40,000 crowns in money which came in very opportunely to pay the King's Swiss. By the King's wish he fought on His Majesty's left with his own squadron, where the full force of the Burgundian attack under the Count d'Egmont was felt, as the King has often since testified. These troops of the enemy numbered 15,000 horse. Before charging M. du Plessis bade M. de Fleury, the minister, who accompanied him, offer up prayers at the head of the troops. Next he exhorted his companions to do their duty and then he led them to the charge with only M. de Feuqueres, my late husband's nephew, at his side. He rode deep into the mel£e and

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the grey Spanish horse which he rode was killed under him by a lance thrust which entered its left flank and came out behind. La Vignolle de Saumur, a follower of his and one of the bravest of the brave, saw him fall and remounted him on his own horse with the help of a landsknecht whom they had taken prisoner, for unaided he was unable to mount on account of the weight of his armour and the stickiness of the soil. Soon after M. du Plessis himself helped to remount la Vignolle on a riderless horse that they met. Ten paces further on M. de Feuqueres, going afoot, met with another which he mounted in his turn for a very good horse lent to him by M. du Plessis had been killed in the charge. But M. de Feuqueres my nephew was killed just after by a sword wound in his face which he wore uncovered, given him by one of a number of Burgundians whom he attacked as they were retreating. His death was avenged on the spot by la Vignolle. M. du Plessis had great difficulty in judging how the battle went for it was, in truth, extremely confused ; at the same time seeing the rally on our side bigger than on the enemy's he hoped for the best. He rode on past the infantry under M. de Vignolles, the maitre de camp, and close to the landsknechts, to rejoin the King whom he saluted as victor at the head of the troops rallied round him. He left him no more that day. He was much worried about his standard which M. de Granvy a gentleman of Poitou carried but it had the good fortune to pass safely through the charge and to be the first to rally the King's men, and to find itself at Ivry in the victorious pursuit of the enemy.

M. du Plessis had good reason to give God praise this day particularly that, in such a charge, he lost none of his men except poor M. de Feuqueres (whom he greatly regretted), and even he was not killed in the chief fighting- There were not many wounded either, although as many as thirteen horses were killed, mostly by sword or lance thrusts. In the pursuit M. du Plessis had the joy to fall in with his brother, M. de Buhy, who was inquiring

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everywhere for him. He had only reached the army as the first cannon was fired. The King on reaching Rosny went at once to his private room, accompanied by only two or three and there thanked God for this signal victory. He asked M. du Plessis what he thought of it. " You have succeeded in the bravest folly ever man attempted, Sire," M. du Plessis replied, " for you staked your kingdom on the cast of a die. But you knew the issue lay with God and the fruits of the victory must be consecrated to His use. For the rest, we swear, Sire, to fight for your preservation, but we beseech you to swear us an oath in your turn, which is that you will fight no more in person." More he said on this point which His Majesty took in very good part and promised to do as he was asked. However, so soon as he set eyes on the enemy, he would neither let anyone remind him of this promise nor remember it of himself.

That same evening M. du Plessis himself wrote all the dispatches announcing the victory as the King had no secretary of State with him. On the morrow news reached him that all his own and his troop's baggage had been stolen by the townsfolk of Vernon from his quarters, which were three leagues away from the battlefield. He had left everything behind by the King's orders so that he might not be late in arriving for the combat. I had taken such pains in equipping him and had spent no small sum either foreseeing that he was likely to be long away. As a matter of fact he was nine whole months absent and he and his men suffered very much from the loss of their things.

M. de Buhy, his brother, and he together reduced Vernon to the King's obedience through the reliance which the inhabitants placed in them both, and this event did not a little to shake the confidence of the citizens of Mantes. Two days later Mantes opened its gates to the King.

It was there, at Mantes, that the King commanded M. du Plessis to enter his State Council and bade Marshal

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de Biron to install him, to everyone's gratification. He took the oaths a few days later and was the first protestant to be admitted. I must not forget to add that he sent his valet, Daulay, a man from Buhy, from the battlefield to me with a message in a cipher agreed upon between us and that very evening he wrote me a full account of the victory. I sent the original on to the Marshal de Matignon who, directly he saw the handwriting, organized public rejoicings at Bordeaux, and these were followed by others all over the country.