ch as was possible, at whatever cost or danger it might
be." She had "intermeddled with affairs in the last war,
unsolicited and of her own accord, not so much for conscience'
sake, as because of the hatred her house bore to the popes,
sole cause of the loss of the kingdom of Navarre, and
especially through jealousy of the late Prince of Conde, whom
she saw to be in the enjoyment of such credit, and to be so
well followed, that she suspected great injury might result to
her son in the event of his succession to the throne." She
was, consequently, "not very sorry" to hear of Conde's death
at Jarnac. Having been disappointed in securing for her son
the sole (nominal) command of the Huguenots, she vented her
vengeance upon Coligny, whom she held responsible for the
association of the young Conde in the leadership with his
cousin. From that time forward she took every opportunity to
cross the admiral, with the view of compelling him to retire
in disgust from the management of affairs. In one of the
speeches--Sallustian, I suspect--in which the Memoires abound,
Count Louis of Nassau is represented as lamenting: "It is a
great pity to have to do with a woman who has no other counsel
than her own head, which is too little and light (legere) to
contain so many reasons and precautions, and who is of such
weight in matters of so great consequence. And the mischief is
that she has such an aversion to the admiral through foolish
jealousy," etc. At last the admiral is goaded on to
unpardonable imprudence. In the spring of 1572 he yields to
the importunities of Marshal Cosse, and goes from La Rochelle
to the royal court at Blois: "weary of being near this
princess, he exposed himself to the evident peril, of which
he had had advices and arguments enough."

To all this misrepresentation, the remarks of La Huguerye's
editor, the Baron de Ruble, are a sufficient answer: "No other
historian of the period, Catholic or Huguenot, has accused the
Queen of Navarre of so much jealousy, frivolity, and spite. To
the calumnies of La Huguerye we should oppose the verdict
which every impartial judge can pronounce respecting this
princess, in accordance with the letters published by the
Marquis de Rochambeau and the testimony of contemporaries."

FOOTNOTES:

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