‘On confisqua les biens des églises catholiques.’ Lavallée des Français, vol. iii. p. 85: and see Capefigue's Richelieu, vol. i. p. 258.
169
‘Ils donnent des commissions d'armer et de faire des impositions sur le peuple, et ce sous leur grand sceau, qui étoit une Religion appuyée sur une croix, ayant en la main un livre de l'évangile, foulant aux pieds un vieux squelette, qu'ils disoient être l'église romaine.’ Mém. de Richelieu, vol. ii. p. 120. M. Capefigue (Richelieu, vol. i. p. 259) says that this seal still exists; but it is not even alluded to by a late writer (Felice, Hist. of the Protestants of France, p. 240), who systematically suppresses every fact unfavourable to his own party.
170
Le Vassor, Hist. de Louis XIII, vol. iv. p. 157; Bazin, Hist. de Louis XIII, vol. ii. p. 145; Benoist, Hist. de l'Edit de Nantes, vol. ii. pp. 353–355; Capefigue's Richelieu, vol. i. p. 258.
171
Even Mosheim, who, as a Protestant, was naturally prejudiced in favour of the Huguenots, says, that they had established ‘imperium in imperio;’ and he ascribes to the violence of their rulers the war of 1621. Mosheim's Eccles. Hist. vol. ii. pp. 237, 238.
172
Compare Mém. de Fontenay Mareuil, vol. ii. p. 88, with Flassan, Hist. de la Diplomatie Française, vol. ii. p. 351.
173
See the paper of instructions from Pope Gregory XV. in the appendix to Ranke, die Röm. Päpste, vol. iii. pp. 173, 174: ‘Die Hauptsache aber ist was er dem Könige von Frankreich vorstellen soll: 1, dass er ja nicht den Verdacht auf sich laden werde als verfolge er die Protestanten bloss aus Staatsinteresse.’ Bazin (Hist. de Louis XIII, vol. ii. p. 320) says, that Richelieu attacked the Huguenots ‘sans aucune idée de persécution religieuse.’ See, to the same effect, Capefigue's Richelieu, vol. i. p. 274; and the candid admissions of the Protestant Le Vassor, in his Hist. de Louis XIII, vol. v. p. 11.
174
Quick's Synodicon in Gallia, vol. i. p. 62.
175
Ibid. vol. i. pp. lvii. 17, 131, vol. ii. p. 174.
176
‘And both sexes are required to keep modesty in their hair,’ &c. Ibid. vol. i. p. 119.
177
Quick's Synodicon, vol. i. p. 165.
178
The synod of Alez, in 1620, says, ‘A minister may at the same time be professor in divinity and of the Hebrew tongue. But it is not seemly for him to profess the Greek also, because the most of his employment will be taken up in the exposition of Pagan and profane authors, unless he be discharged from the ministry.’ Quick's Synodicon, vol. ii. p. 57. Three years later, the synod of Charenton suppressed altogether the Greek professorships, ‘as being superfluous and of small profit.’ Ibid. vol. ii. p. 115.
179
The synod of St. Maixant, in 1609, orders that ‘colloquies and synods shall have a watchful eye over those ministers who study chemistry, and grievously reprove and censure them.’ Ibid. vol. i. p. 314.
180
Ibid. vol. i. pp. 140, 194, vol. ii. p. 110.
181
Quick's Synodicon, vol. i. pp. lv. 235, 419, vol. ii. pp. 201, 509, 515. Compare Benoist, Hist. de l'Edit de Nantes, vol. ii. p. 473.
182
Quick's Synodicon, vol. ii. p. 81.
183
Ibid. vol. ii. p. 174.
184
‘All Christian magistrates are advised not in the least to suffer them, because it feeds foolish curiosity, puts upon unnecessary expenses, and wastes time,’ Ibid. vol. i. p. 194.
185
This was a very knotty question for the theologians; but it was at length decided in the affirmative by the synod of Saumur: ‘On the 13th article of the same chapter, the deputies of Poicton demanded, whether two names might be given a child at baptism? To which it was replied: The thing was indifferent; however, parents were advised to observe herein Christian simplicity.’ Ibid. vol. i. p. 178.
186
Ibid. vol. i. pp. xlvi. 25.
187
I quote the language of the synod of Castres, in 1626. Ibid. vol. ii. p. 174.
188
Quick's Synodicon, vol. i. p. 165, vol. ii. pp. 7, 174, 574, 583. In the same way, the Spanish clergy, early in the present century, attempted to regulate the dress of women. See Doblado's Letters from Spain, pp. 202–205: a good illustration of the identity of the ecclesiastical spirit, whether it be Catholic or Protestant.
189
On his influence over her in and after 1616, see Le Vassor, Hist. de Louis XIII, vol. ii. p. 508; Mém. de Pontchartrain, vol. ii. p. 240; Mém. de Montglat, vol. i. p. 23; and compare, in Mém. de Richelieu, vol. ii. pp. 198–200, the curious arguments which he put in her mouth respecting the impolicy of making war on the Protestants.
190
In 1625, the Archbishop of Lyons wrote to Richelieu, urging him ‘assiéger la Rochelle, et châtier ou, pour mieux dire, exterminer les huguenots, toute autre affaire cessante.’ Bazin, Hist. de Louis XIII, vol. ii. p. 276. See also, on the anxiety of the clergy in the reign of Louis XIII. to destroy the Protestants, Benoist, Hist. de l'Edit de Nantes, vol. ii. pp. 155, 166, 232, 245, 338, 378, 379, 427; Sismondi, Hist. des Français, vol. xxii. p. 485.
191
He confirmed it in March 1626; Flassan, Hist. de la Diplomatie Française, vol. ii. p. 399; and also in the preceding January. See Benoist, Hist. de l'Edit de Nantes, vol. ii. appendix, pp. 77, 81.
192
‘Ceux qui affectent autant le nom de zélés catholiques.’ Mém. de Richelieu, vol. iii. p. 16; and at p. 2, he, in the same year (1626), says, that he was opposed by those who had ‘un trop ardent et précipité désir de ruiner les huguenots.’
193
Sismondi, Hist. des Français, vol. xxiii. p. 66.
194
On the sufferings of the inhabitants, see extract from the Dupuis Mss., in Capefigue's Richelieu, vol. i. p. 351. Fontenay Mareuil, who was an eye-witness, says, that the besieged, in some instances, ate their own children; and that the burial-grounds were guarded, to prevent the corpses from being dug up and turned into food. Mém. de Fontenay Mareuil, vol. ii. p. 119.
195
And in which he would most assuredly have been supported by Louis XIII.; of whom an intelligent writer says ‘Il étoit plein de piété et de zèle pour le service de Dieu et pour la grandeur de l'église; et sa plus sensible joie, en prenant La Rochelle et les autres places qu'il prit, fut de penser qu'il chasseroit de son royaume les hérétiques, et qu'il le purgeroit par cette voie des différentes religions qui gâtent et infectent l'église de Dieu.’ Mém. de Motteville, vol. i. p. 425, edit. Petitot, 1824.
196
Bazin, Hist. de Louis XIII, vol. ii. p. 423; Sismondi, Hist. des Français, vol. xxiii. p. 77; Capefigue's Richelieu, vol. i. p. 357; Mém. de Fontenay Mareuil, vol. ii. p. 122.
