y, of the house of Guise, was the wife of James VI. of Scotland; and
through the powerful influence of the Guises, the brothers of the
Scottish queen, a marriage was arranged between her daughter--her most
serene little highness, Marie Stuart--and the dauphin, who would some
day be Francis II.

In order to be prepared for this high destiny, the little maid when
only five years old was brought to the Court of France to be trained
under the direct influence of the accomplished queen-mother,
Catharine--undoubtedly, although unsuspected then, the worst woman in
Europe! Poor little Marie Stuart, predestined to sin and to tragedy!
What could be expected of a woman with the blood of the Guises in her
veins, and with Catharine de' Medici as her model and teacher?

In 1559 Henry II. was killed by an accident at a tournament. The
marriage of the two children had taken place. The sickly boy, with
only a modest portion of intelligence, was Francis II., King of France.
Marie, his beautiful and adored queen, controlled him utterly, and was
herself in turn controlled by her uncles of the house of Guise. In
fact, the family of Guise, which was the head of the Catholic party in
the kingdom, ruled France, with the strange result that if Catharine
looked for any allies in her fight with this ambitious family, she must
make common cause with the Protestants, led by Admiral Coligny, whom
she hated only a little less than the uncles of Marie Stuart.

The princes of the house of Bourbon, a remote branch of the royal
family, which, next to Francis, were the nearest to the throne, had
been extremely jealous of the growing power of the Guises. Now they
saw them, as the advisers of the young king, actually usurping the
position which was theirs by right of birth.

Two factions grew out of this feud in the court, and there developed a
Bourbon party, and the party of the Guises; one identified with the
Protestant and the other with the Catholic cause.

Antony de Bourbon, the head of the family of this name, whether from
conviction or from antagonism to the Guises, had openly espoused the
Protestant side. It was the rich burghers of the towns, in combination
with the smaller nobles, which composed the Protestant party in France.
And although the impelling cause of the great movement was religious,
political wrongs had become a powerful contributing cause; as is always
the case, the discontented and aggrieved, for whatever reason, casting