e came to an end, Margaret was conducted by her mother, her brothers,
and a stately retinue, to the episcopal palace, on the Ile de la Cite,
adjoining the cathedral, there, according to the immemorial custom of the
princesses of the blood, to pass the night before her wedding. No papal
dispensation had arrived. Gregory XIII. was as obstinate as his
predecessor in the pontifical chair, in denying the requests of the French
envoys to Rome.[926] But Charles was determined to proceed; and, in order
to silence the opposition of the Cardinal of Bourbon, who still refused to
perform the ceremony without the pope's approval, a forged letter was
shown to him, purporting to come from the Cardinal of Lorraine, or the
royal ambassador at Rome, and announcing that the bull of dispensation had
actually been sealed, and would shortly arrive.[927]

Preparations had been made for the wedding in a style of magnificence
extraordinary even for that age of reckless expenditure. To show their
cordial friendship and fidelity, Charles and his brothers, Anjou and
Alencon, and Henry and his cousin of Conde, assumed a costume precisely
alike--a light yellow satin, covered with silver embroidery, and enriched
with pearls and precious stones. Margaret wore a violet velvet dress with
fleurs-de-lis. Her train was adorned with the same emblems. She was
wrapped in a royal mantle, and had upon her head an imperial crown
glittering with pearls, diamonds, and other gems of incalculable value.
The queens were resplendent in cloth of gold and silver.[928] A lofty
platform had been erected in front of the grand old pile of Notre Dame.
Hither Margaret was brought in great pomp, from the palace of the Bishop
of Paris, escorted by the king, by Catharine de' Medici, by the Dukes of
Anjou and Alencon, and by the Guises, the marshals, and other great
personages of the realm. Upon the platform she met Henry of Navarre, with
his cousins Conde and Conty, Admiral Coligny, Count de la Rochefoucauld,
and a numerous train of Protestant lords from all parts of the kingdom. In
the sight of an immense throng, the nuptial ceremony was performed by the
Cardinal of Bourbon, Henry's uncle, according to the form which had been
previously agreed upon.[929] The bridal procession then entered the
cathedral by a lower platform, which extended through the nave to the
choir. Here Henry, having placed his bride before the grand altar to hear
mass, himself retired with his Protestant comp