erms accepted. Castelnau and his companions-in-arms were at
once thrown into the dungeons of Amboise, and steps were taken for their
trial on a charge of treason.[828] Much larger numbers, arriving in the
vicinity of Amboise ignorant of what had happened, were surrounded by
cavalry and brought in tied to the horses' tails. Many a knight, better
accoutred than his fellows, was despatched in a more summary manner and
stripped of his armor, after which his body was carelessly thrown into a
ditch by the roadside.[829] La Renaudie was so fortunate as to escape
this fate and the yet more cruel doom that awaited him at Amboise, by
meeting a soldier's death, while courageously fighting against a party
of Guisards who fell in with him. He had just slain his antagonist--one
Pardaillan, his own relative--when (on the nineteenth of March) he was
himself instantly killed by the ball from an arquebuse fired by his
opponent's servant.[830]

[Sidenote: Plenary powers given to the Duke of Guise.]

While the alarm arising from the "tumult" was yet at its height, the
Guises took advantage of it to obtain yet larger powers, at the same
time securing their position against future assaults. The king, in his
terror, was readily induced to accept the warlike uncle of his wife as
the only person on whose military prowess and faithfulness he could
rely. He regarded the interest of the Guises and his own as identical;
for he had been told, and he firmly believed it, that the enmity of the
insurgents was directed no less against the crown than against its
unpopular ministers.[831] On the seventeenth of March he therefore gave
a commission to "Francis of Lorraine, Duke of Guise, peer, grand master,
and grand chamberlain," to be his lieutenant-general with absolute
powers, promising to approve of all his acts, and authorizing him to
impose the customary punishment upon the seditious, without form or
figure of process.[832]

[Sidenote: Chancellor Olivier opposes.]

[Sidenote: Forgiveness to the submissive.]

There were those about the monarch who could not but look with concern
upon the unlimited authority thus accorded to an ambitious prince.
Chancellor Olivier was of this number. He at first refused to affix the
seal of state to a paper which falsely purported to have been made by
advice of the council. It was, however, at length decided that another
edict should be published contemporaneously, extending forgiveness to
all that had assembled i