and his popularity with his
followers, the majority of the people rallied to the League. In the
"war of the three Henrys" as it was called, the king had more to fear
from Henry of Guise than from the Huguenot. Cooped up at the Tuileries
the monarch was under so irksome a restraint that he was finally
obliged to regain freedom by flight, on May 12, 1588. The elections
for the States General gave an enormous majority to the League. In an
evil hour for himself the king resorted again to that much used weapon,
assassination. By his order Guise was murdered. "Now I am king," he
wrote with a sigh of relief. But he was mistaken. The League, more
hostile than ever, swearing to avenge the death of its captain, was now
frankly revolutionary.

It continued to exercise its authority under the leadership of a
Committee of Sixteen. These gentlemen purged the still royalist
Parlement of Paris. By the hostility of the League the king was forced
to an alliance with Henry of Navarre. This is interesting as showing
how completely the position of the two leading parties had become
reversed. The throne, once the strongest ally of the church, was now
supported chiefly by the Huguenots who had formerly been in rebellion.
Indeed by this time "the wars of religion" had become to a very large
extent dynastic and social.

On August 1, 1589, the king was assassinated by a Dominican fanatic.
His death was preceded shortly by that of Catharine de' Medici.

[Sidenote: Henry IV, 1589-1610]

Henry IV was a man of thirty-five, of middle stature, but very hardy
and brave. He was one of the most intelligent of the French kings,
vigorous of brain as of body. Few could resist his delicate
compliments and the promises he knew how to lavish. The glamour of his
personality has survived even until now. In a song still popular he is
called "the gallant king who knew {225} how to fight, to make love and
to drink." He is also remembered for his wish that every peasant might
have a fowl in his pot. His supreme desire was to see France, bleeding
and impoverished by civil war, again united, strong and happy. He
consistently subordinated religion to political ends. To him almost
alone is due the final adoption of tolerance, not indeed as a natural
right, but as a political expedient.

The difficulties with which he had to contend were enormous. The
Catholics, headed by the Duke of Mayenne, a brother of Guise, agreed to
recognize him for six