ished. What judge you when the
Cardinal of Lorraine is constrained to command to punish the clergy, and
such as do find fault with others' insolence, contemning the reverent
usage to the holy procession!"[878]

[Sidenote: Montbrun in the Comtat Venaissin.]

[Sidenote: Universal commotion.]

New commotions had indeed arisen in the south-east, where Montbrun, a
nephew of Cardinal Tournon, the inquisitor-general, had entered the
small domain of the Pope, the Comtat Venaissin, as a Huguenot
leader.[879] Conde had dexterously escaped the snares laid for him, and
had taken refuge with his brother, Navarre.[880] Their spies reported to
the Guises a state of universal commotion; and deputies from all parts
of France rehearsed in the ears of the Bourbon princes the story of the
usurpations of the Guises and the Protestant grievances, and urged them,
by every consideration of honor and safety, to undertake to redress
them.[881] The Guises had for some time been pressing the King of Spain
and the Pope to forward the convening of a universal council, without
which all would go to ruin.[882] In view of the great apathy displayed
both by Philip and by Pius--perhaps, also, with the secret hope of
enticing Navarre and Conde to come within their reach[883]--they
consented to the plan which Catharine de' Medici, at the suggestion of
L'Hospital and Coligny, now advocated, of summoning a council of
notables to devise measures for allaying the existing excitement.[884]

[Sidenote: Assembly of notables at Fontainebleau, August 21, 1560.]

On the twenty-first of August this celebrated assembly was convened by
royal letters in the stately palace at Fontainebleau.[885] Antoine of
Navarre and the Prince of Conde declined, on specious pretexts, the
king's invitation. Constable Montmorency accepted it, but came with a
formidable escort of eight hundred attendants. His three nephews, the
Chatillons, followed his example, and shared his protection. At the
appointed hour a brilliant company was gathered in the spacious
apartments of the queen mother. On either side of the king's throne sat
Mary of Scots, and Catharine de' Medici, and the young princes--Charles
Maximilian, Duke of Orleans, Edward Alexander, and Hercules.[886] Four
cardinals, in their purple--Bourbon, Lorraine, Guise, and Chatillon--sat
below. Next to these were placed the Duke of Guise, as
lieutenant-general of the kingdom; the Duke of Montmorency, as
constable; L'Hospital, as ch