delighted. The former could
scarcely find words to express his joy[1306] at the prospect of being
freed from the presence of a brother whom he feared, and perhaps hated;
while the queen mother's gratification was even more intense at the
peaceful solution of the prophecy of Nostradamus, than at the elevation of
her favorite son.

[Sidenote: Edict of Pacification, Boulogne, July, 1573.]

The peace between the king and the Rochellois was concluded in June, and
was formally promulgated in July, 1573, in a royal edict from Boulogne.
The chief provision was that the Protestants in the cities of La Rochelle,
Montauban, and Nismes should enjoy entire freedom of public worship, while
their brethren throughout the kingdom should have liberty of conscience
and the right to sell their property and remove wherever they might
choose, whether within or without the realm. Only gentlemen and others
enjoying high jurisdiction, who had remained constant in their faith, and
had taken up arms with the three cities, were to be allowed to collect
their friends to the number of ten to witness their marriages and
baptisms, according to the custom of the Reformed Church. Even this
privilege could not be exercised within the distance of two leagues from
the royal court or from the city of Paris; nor did the edict confer the
right to preach or celebrate the Lord's Supper.[1307] La Rochelle, Nismes,
and Montauban gained their point, and were to be exempted from receiving
garrisons or having citadels built, with the condition that they should
for two years constantly keep four of their principal citizens at court as
pledges of their fidelity. All promises of abjuration were declared null
and void. Amnesty was proclaimed, and, to cap the climax of absurdity, the
brave Huguenots who had defended their homes for months against Charles
were solemnly declared to be held the king's "good, loyal, and faithful
subjects and servants."

[Sidenote: Meagre results of the war.]

The results of the war on the king's side were certainly very meagre. To
have fought for the greater part of a year with the miserable Huguenots
that had escaped the massacre of St. Bartholomew's Day, and then to
conclude the war by such a peace, was certainly ignominious enough for
Charles and his mother. For the Huguenot party was now, more than ever, a
recognized power in the state, with three strongholds--one in the west and
two in the south. Into no one of these could a royal ga