n his armour, delighted that her son should defend the reformed
religion. She saw that he was brave and manly, if he were not a truly
religious prince, and she agreed with the loudly expressed opinion of
the populace that he was more royal in bearing than the dissolute and
effeminate youths who spent their idle days within the palaces of the
Louvre and the Tuileries.

The country was growing so weary of the struggle that the scheme for a
marriage between Henry of Navarre and Margaret of Valois was hailed
with enthusiasm. If Catholic and Huguenot were united there might be
peace in France that would add to the prosperity of the nation.
Catherine de Medici had intended originally that her daughter should
marry the {105} Catholic King of Portugal, and was angry with Philip II
of Spain because he had done nothing to assist her in making this
alliance. Charles IX longed to humble Philip, who was indignant that
the "heretics" had been offered freedom of worship in 1570, and had
expressed his opinion rather freely. Therefore the Valois family did
not hesitate to receive the leader of the Protestants, Henry de
Bourbon, whose territory extended from the Pyrenees to far beyond the
Garonne.

The Queen of Navarre disliked the match and was suspicious of the
Queen-Mother's motives. She feared that Catherine and Catherine's
daughter would entice Henry into a gay, dissolute course of life which
would destroy the results of her early training, and she could not
respond very cordially to the effusive welcome which greeted her at the
court when she came sadly to the wedding.

The marriage contract was signed in 1571, neither bride nor bridegroom
having much choice in the matter. Henry was probably dazzled by the
brilliant prospects that opened out to one who was mated with a Valois,
but he was only nineteen and never quite at ease in the shifting,
tortuous maze of diplomacy as conceived by the mind of Catherine de
Medici. Margaret was a talented, lively girl, and pleased with the
fine jewels that were given her. She did not understand the reasons
which urged her brother Charles to press on the match. He insisted
that it should take place in Paris in order that he might show his
subjects how much he longed to settle the religious strife that had
lately rent the kingdom. It was a question, of course, on which
neither of the contracting parties had to be more than formally
consulted.

The Queen of Navarre died suddenly on the