he peace of St. Germain, and the insults,
the attacks which they had still to suffer in many parts of the kingdom,
and quite recently at Rouen and at Orange. The king attempted, without
any great success, to repress these disorders amongst the populace. The
Queen of Navarre, the two princes, Coligny, and many Protestant lords
remained still at La Rochelle, where was being held at this time a
general synod of the Reformed churches. Charles IX. sent thither Marshal
de Biron, with formal orders to negotiate the marriage of Marguerite de
Valois and the Prince of Navarre, and to induce that prince, his mother
the Queen of Navarre, and Coligny to repair to the court in order to
conclude the matter. The young prince was at that time in Warn. The
queen, his mother, answered, "That she would consult her spiritual
advisers, and, as soon as her conscience was at rest, there were no
conditions she would not accept with a view of giving satisfaction to the
king and the queen, of marking her obedience and respect towards them,
and of securing the tranquillity of the state, an object for which she
would willingly sacrifice her own life. . . . But," she added, "I
would rather sink to the condition of the humblest damoisel in France
than sacrifice to the aggrandizement of my family my own soul and my
son's."

In September, 1571, Charles IX. and the queen-mother repaired to Blois;
and at their urgent request Coligny went thither to talk over the
projected marriage and the affairs of Europe. The king received him with
emotional satisfaction, calling him my father, and saying to him, "Now we
have you, and you shall not escape us when you wish to." Jeanne
d'Albret, more distrustful, or, one ought rather to say, more
clear-sighted, refused to leave La Rochelle, and continued to negotiate
vaguely and from a distance. Catherine de' Medici insisted. "Satisfy,"
she wrote to her, "the extreme desire we have to see you in this company;
you will be loved and honored therein as accords with reason and with
what you are." Jeanne still waited. It was only in the following year,
at the end of January, that, having earnestly exhorted her son "to remain
Bearn-wards whilst she was at the court of France," she set out for
Blois, where Charles IX. received her most affectionately, calling her my
good aunt, my dear aunt, and lavishing upon her promises as well as
endearments. Jeanne was a strict and a judicious person; and the manners
and pro