The Night of Saint Bartholomew: John Wilmot, Earl of Rochester

By Vera Kryzhanovskaia and John Wilmot, Earl of Rochester

Saint Bartholomew's Night is the mass murder of Huguenots - French Protestant Christians of Calvinist doctrine - during the French Wars of Religion of the 16th century. It began on the night of August 23-24, 1572 in Paris, and spread for months across the country.
It was a fanatical, immediate and cruel movement that, in the "name of God", committed the most atrocious atrocities, unleashing causes that lasted for centuries of tests for the spirits that, in the darkness of the night, brutally interfered with the destiny of thousands of Huguenot Protestants, first locking them in a trap, using as bait the marriage of Henry and Navarre (Protestant) with Marguerite de Valois (Catholic, daughter of Catherine de Medici, the Queen Mother, who determined energetically over her son, the fragile Charles IX).

• Language: English
• Publisher: World Spiritist Institute
• Release date: Jul 16, 2023
• ISBN: 9798223707493

Book preview

The Night of Saint Bartholomew

DICTATED BY THE SPIRIT

JOHN WILMONT

EARL OF ROCHESTER

VERA KRYZHANOVSKAIA

Translation to English:

Pierina Cotrina      

Jesús Diego Juarez

Lima, Peru, November 2022

Original Title in Portuguese:

A NOITE DE SÃO BARTOLOMEU

Translated to Portuguese from the original Russian Varfolomeeskaya Notch ou Diana de Saurmont - 1896, by Eduardo Pereira Cabral Gomes and Celso Luiz de Alcântara

© VERA KRYZHANOVSKAIA,1896

World Spiritist Institute

Houston, Texas, USA      

E–mail: [e-mail]

About the Medium

Vera Ivanovna Kryzhanovskaia, (Warsaw, July 14, 1861 - Tallinn, December 29, 1924), was a Russian psychographer medium. Between 1885 and 1917 she psychographed a hundred novels and short stories signed by the spirit of Rochester, believed by some to be John Wilmot, second Earl of Rochester. Among the best known are The Pharaoh Mernephtah and The Iron Chancellor.

In addition to historical novels, in parallel the medium psychographed works with occult-cosmological themes. E. V. Kharitonov, in his research essay, considered her the first woman representative of science fiction literature. During the fashion for occultism and esotericism, with the recent scientific discoveries and psychic experiences of European spiritualist circles, she attracted readers from the Russian Silver Age high society and the middle class in newspapers and press. Although he began along spiritualist lines, organizing séances in St. Petersburg, he later gravitated toward theosophical doctrines.

Her father died when Vera was just ten years old, which left the family in a difficult situation. In 1872 Vera was taken in by an educational charity for noble girls in St. Petersburg as a scholar, St. Catherine's School. However, the young girl's frail health and financial difficulties prevented her from completing the course. In 1877 she was discharged and completed her education at home.

During this period, the spirit of the English poet JW Rochester (1647-1680), taking advantage of the young woman's mediumistic gifts, materialized, and proposed that she dedicate herself body and soul to the service of the Good and write under his direction. After this contact with the person who became her spiritual guide, Vera was cured of chronic tuberculosis, a serious illness at the time, without medical interference.

At the age of 18, he began to work in psychography. In 1880, on a trip to France, he successfully participated in a mediumistic séance. At that time, his contemporaries were surprised by his productivity, despite his poor health. His séances were attended at that time by famous European mediums, as well as by Prince Nicholas, the future Tsar Nicholas II of Russia.

In 1886, in Paris, her first work was made public, the historical novel Episode of the life of Tiberius, published in French, (as well as her first works), in which the tendency for mystical themes was already noticeable. It is believed that the medium was influenced by the Spiritist Doctrine of Allan Kardec, the Theosophy of Helena Blavatsky, and the Occultism of Papus.

During this period of temporary residence in Paris, Vera psychographed a series of historical novels, such as The Pharaoh Mernephtah, The Abbey of the Benedictines, The Romance of a Queen, The Iron Chancellor of Ancient Egypt, Herculaneum, The Sign of Victory, The Night of Saint Bartholomew, among others, which attracted public attention not only for the captivating themes, but also for the exciting plots. For the novel The Iron Chancellor of Ancient Egypt, the French Academy of Sciences awarded him the title of Officer of the French Academy, and in 1907, the Russian Academy of Sciences awarded him the Honorable Mention for the novel Czech Luminaries.

About the Spiritual Author

John Wilmot, Earl of Rochester was born on April 1 or 10, 1647 (there is no record of the exact date). The son of Henry Wilmot and Anne (widow of Sir. Francis Henry Lee), Rochester resembled his father in physique and temperament, domineering and proud. Henry Wilmot had received the title of Earl because of his efforts to raise money in Germany to help King Charles I regain the throne after he was forced to leave England.

When his father died, Rochester was 11 years old and inherited the title of Earl, little inheritance, and honors.

Young J.W. Rochester grew up in Ditchley among drunkenness, theatrical intrigues, artificial friendships with professional poets, lust, brothels in Whetstone Park and the friendship of the king, whom he despised.

He had a vast culture, for the time: he mastered Latin and Greek, knew the classics, French and Italian, was the author of satirical poetry, highly appreciated in his time.

In 1661, at the age of 14, he left Wadham College, Oxford, with the degree of Master of Arts. He then left for the continent (France and Italy) and became an interesting figure: tall, slim, attractive, intelligent, charming, brilliant, subtle, educated, and modest, ideal characteristics to conquer the frivolous society of his time.

When he was not yet 20 years old, in January 1667, he married Elizabeth Mallet. Ten months later, drinking began to affect his character. He had four sons with Elizabeth and a daughter, in 1677, with the actress Elizabeth Barry.

Living the most different experiences, from fighting the Dutch navy on the high seas to being involved in crimes of death, Rochester's life followed paths of madness, sexual abuse, alcoholics, and charlatanism, in a period in which he acted as a physician.

When Rochester was 30 years old, he writes to a former fellow adventurer that he was nearly blind, lame, and with little chance of ever seeing London again.

Quickly recovering, Rochester returns to London. Shortly thereafter, in agony, he set out on his last adventure: he called the curate Gilbert Burnet and dictated his recollections to him. In his last reflections, Rochester acknowledged having lived a wicked life, the end of which came slowly and painfully to him because of the venereal diseases that dominated him.

Earl of Rochester died on July 26, 1680. In the state of spirit, Rochester received the mission to work for the propagation of Spiritualism. After 200 years, through the medium Vera Kryzhanovskaia, the automatism that characterized her made her hand trace words with dizzying speed and total unconsciousness of ideas. The narratives that were dictated to her denote a wide knowledge of ancestral life and customs and provide in their details such a local stamp and historical truth that the reader finds it hard not to recognize their authenticity. Rochester proves to dictate his historical-literary production, testifying that life unfolds to infinity in his indelible marks of spiritual memory, towards the light and the way of God. It seems impossible for a historian, however erudite, to study, simultaneously and in depth, times and environments as different as the Assyrian, Egyptian, Greek and Roman civilizations; as well as customs as dissimilar as those of the France of Louis XI to those of the Renaissance.

The subject matter of Rochester's work begins in Pharaonic Egypt, passes through Greco-Roman antiquity and the Middle Ages, and continues into the 19th century. In his novels, reality navigates in a fantastic current, in which the imaginary surpasses the limits of verisimilitude, making natural phenomena that oral tradition has taken care to perpetuate as supernatural.

Rochester's referential is full of content about customs, laws, ancestral mysteries and unfathomable facts of History, under a novelistic layer, where social and psychological aspects pass through the sensitive filter of his great imagination. Rochester's genre classification is hampered by his expansion into several categories: gothic horror with romance, family sagas, adventure and forays into the fantastic.

The number of editions of Rochester's works, spread over countless countries, is so large that it is not possible to have an idea of their magnitude, especially considering that, according to researchers, many of these works are unknown to the general public.

Several lovers of Rochester's novels carried out (and perhaps do carry out) searches in libraries in various countries, especially in Russia, to locate still unknown works. This can be seen in the prefaces transcribed in several works. Many of these works are finally available in Spanish thanks to the World Spiritist Institute.

Contents

SYNOPSIS

A LITTLE BIT OF HISTORY

SOME OF THE MOST IMPORTANT FRENCH PEOPLE

THE BEGINNING OF RELIGIOUS CONFLICTS

FIRST PART

I. THE GOLDEN SHEEP

II. THE BARONESS D'ARMI

III. DIANA

IV. THE ARRIVAL OF MAILOR

V. ANOTHER MARRIAGE

VI. THE ABANDONED CHILD

SECOND PART

I. OLD ACQUAINTANCES

II. THE CONVENT IS BACK

III. A REMORSELESS CRIME

IV. HASTY ENGAGEMENT

V. FREE AT LAST

VI. MR. MONTEFELICE

VII. RENÉ, THE PERFUMER

VIII. THE ATTACK

IX. COMPROMISING LETTER

X. THE DEATH OF THE ADMIRAL

XI. THE FAREWELL

THIRD PART

I. THE KIDNAPING

II. THE MARRIAGE

III. THE SEDUCTION  OF RENÉ

IV. DIANA IN THE COURT

V. WITCHCRAFT

VI. THE ESCAPE

VII. ANXIOUS PRISONER

VIII. BRYANT'S REVENGE

SYNOPSIS

Despite the festivities of the wedding of the Prince of Navarre to Charles IX's sister, the great palace holds a dark and sad room. It is the great enclosure where the Queen Mother gathers her beloved friends...

Catherine de Medici is undecided. Paris is full of Protestants for the royal nuptials. The repression against Coligny must be expressed now or never...

Fearing her son's hesitations, the sovereign concealed the meeting that had been quietly held. The Court must make up its mind. A disciplinary showdown in Paris is the only move that can put up France to the level of Spain in the papal defense.

The Duke of Alba’s victories, Philip II’s influence, give cause for whispered conversations. If Netherlands were definitely submitted, the Spanish prestige would overshadow the French world. And the action of the heretic Admiral, transformed into the King's only and highly respected advisor, provides food for the strangest suggestions of the collective crime that is only sketched out...

(...) And the meeting passed, until the King, frail and ill, was summoned by maternal energy at dusk two days later.

(...) Charles trembles irresolutely. The royal heart is torn between the love of the progenitor and the attentions of the favorite. The infirm sovereign reacts and cries... (...)¹

(...) If the French Revolution, in 1789, could not avoid excesses and exaggerations, given its mass structure, with heterogeneous and psychologically multiple factors, the existence of continued injustices on the collectivity, feeding the uncontrollable revolt, on the other hand, it aimed to raise the banner of Liberty, Equality, Fraternity.

Evidently, the political flow culminated in the Napoleonic aristocracy; nevertheless, the fruits of the Revolution remained substantializing life, and gradually improving, everywhere, the behavior of the Nations, tending them, more or less, to the Law.

The night of Saint Bartholomew, no; it was a low, stupid, blind, fanatical, immediatism movement, in which, in the name of God and in His shadow, the most unspeakable barbarities were committed, unleashing causes that lasted for centuries of trials for Spirits who, in the dead of night, played with the destiny of thousands of Huguenot Protestants, imprisoning them, firstly, in a trap, using as bait of attraction the marriage of Henry of Na varra (Protestant) with Marguerite of Valois (Catholic, daughter of Catherine de Medici, the Queen Mother, who ruled strongly over her son, the fragile Charles IX).

The French Court was not content with the Spanish hegemony, which was becoming more and more evident in the Vatican and was being promoted throughout Europe. For a long time, Catherine's discreet group of nobles and advisors, and herself, had been working on a sinister plan to eliminate what they called the plague from French soil. The evangelical current grew not only in Paris, but throughout France, encouraged by the austere and firm figure of Admiral Gaspar de Coligny, who was an advisor and friend of Charles IX.

A LITTLE BIT OF HISTORY

CATARINA OF MÉDICIS -1519 a 1589

History accuses Catherine of all sorts of plots. One sees her old, with her tough face, leaning on the royal chair of Charles IX, giving him advice of treason and hatred... But there is another part of her: some think her a brave woman, whose main fault was that she was badly educated; transported to France, she devoted herself to the health of the state and defended the throne to her children by every means in her power. Let us try to understand her.

She was born on April 13, 1519 in Florence, in the Palazzo della Via Larga, built by Cosimo the Elder. Her father was Lorenzo de Medici, Duke of Urbino; her mother was Magdalene of La Tour d'Auvergne. From the very beginning there was something pointing to her destiny. His parents soon died. After a short trip to Rome, where two of her uncles - Leo X and Clement VII - became popes almost successively, she returned to Florence where there was a popular insurrection going on. She found asylum in the convent of the Benedictine nuns of Murates; from there, she could hear the clamor of the people looting churches and breaking statues.

In 1529, while an armada of Spaniards and German mercenaries in the pay of the Pope besieges the city, she is treated as collateral. She is torn from her convent despite the cries of the nuns who want to protect her, and Catherine is imprisoned in a much smaller convent; an exalted man proposes to drag her over the walls to expose her to enemy shocks. The city gives in.

In 1539, Catherine was taken to Rome, entrusted to Maria Salviati, widow of John of Medici, the former head of the Black Bands, and to the Duchess of Camerino, respectable ladies of the time. She is a girl of 11 or 12 years old, and Bronzino describes her to us: black hair, an arched forehead, round eyes, a Medici heritage; strongly arched eyebrows, a slightly thick nose... The whole is far from beautiful, but she has grace and distinction. In character she is amiable, insinuating, and knows how to make herself appreciated: in Murates the nuns love her tenderly; in Rome she pleases the Pope's staff and the foreign ambassadors find her very kind.

The Italy she will soon leave a big mark. Machiavelli's The Prince was dedicated to her father; the book deals with politics and government - it teaches Italian princes the means of preserving and establishing their power in the interests of Italy. It was written in 1513. It is possible that she read it more than once. In Florence her precocious intelligence must be wide open to intrigue and understand things well; in Rome she is right in the center of the most tortuous and subtle diplomacy, as always.

She has a professor which is her uncle, Pope Clement VII. So, she learns to dissimulate, to focus on herself. But the papal Roman civilization and the art of the Renaissance inspire in her a concern for refined life and a sense of Beauty that she will never lose. This is how she maintains an air of dignity, a correctness of conduct that will be preserved throughout her career as a wife and even as a widow. Many years later, when they reviled her with writing on the walls of Louvre, Catherine could say, Thank God that is the thing in the world of which I am the cleanest, and I thank God for it.

On the question of her marriage, if she had been free, she would have married her cousin Hippolytus de Medici, natural son of Julian de Medici. But the pope had other intentions for her - a political marriage would have been better. There were many suitors (just as a curiosity, the King of Scotland, future father of Mary Stuart was also on this list) and finally the choice fell on the dauphin of France, the future Henry II, who at the time was using the title Henry d'Orleans, second son of Francis I.

On October 23, 1533 Catherine arrived in Marseilles - she was 14 years old... The King of France and her fiancé were waiting for her. Solemn introductions were made, and a few days later the wedding was celebrated. According to the many accounts of the time there are descriptions of the ceremony, the procession of cardinals, the pageboys, the bridesmaids, the magnificence of the clothes... Logically the young lady was the center of all eyes; she wore a brocade suit and a violet velvet body trimmed with ermine. Her hair was so full of precious stones that a contemporary said of her: "she is worth a kingdom! There may be exaggeration, but the stones in her trousseau were beautiful.

When the festivities were over, the dowry was counted in the general treasury of France, and some people made grimaces.

From brilliant and refined Italy to France, a country of tough soldiers, the difference was big. Those times left us great beauties, but this was the exception; the majority of the population was impenetrable. The life of the lords as well as the life of the bourgeois was rough; also rough were their ways of speaking and their manners. The penalties were terrible: the thief was hanged, the heretic was burned, and the counterfeit coin was dunked in boiling liquid.

The spectacle of torture was much sought after by the court and good society. There was no respect for the human personality. Someone named Tavannes wrote his Memoirs saying that, by murmuring Our Fathers one hanged oneself, shot oneself to death, quartered oneself, burned the town - set fire to it all around, a quarter of a league...

But there was one place where there were good manners and good language - it was the court. There, the officials of the state and the guests of the house were gathered together: officials, kind men, bridesmaids, abbots of all persuasions, not to mention the masses of parasites, literati, inventors, beggars, etc., etc., a whole world of people living off the King's generosity. Each sovereign constituted his guests according to his taste for luxury or sociability. A frank and good-natured joy; the joy of people accumulated with goods, leading a perfect existence, without fear of tomorrow, and whose revelry had nothing monotonous, because the court went from castle to castle, sometimes camping under tents, always decorated, and even luxurious. No doubt there were some people who took care of serious things, but most of them did not. Conversations began from the late hours of the morning until late at night. In the afternoon a prince used to sing Neapolitan songs that the ladies loved. Gallantry was the constant occupation.

Someone from that time commented: the bad thing is that in France women get involved in everything; the King should shut their mouths; that's where gossip and slander come from. And Tavannes, quoted above:

In this court, therefore, women do everything, same as generals and captains.

The arrival of Catherine, a 14-year-old girl went almost unnoticed. Even upon the death of the eldest son of the royal house, she becoming The Lady Delfina - her role was one of the most lackluster. Two women, the mistresses of the old King and the future King greatly influenced the mandarins: the Duchess d'Etampes and Diana of Poitiers.

This Diana had from her contemporaries a boundless admiration; they made her the type of perfect beauty. Her portraits give us another impression. She is a vigorous woman, of rich flesh, of mediocrely regular features, with an air of healthy beauty. Widow of Monsieur de Saint-Vallier, married in 1515, she brought flowers every day to the grave of the late Louis de Brézé. But she tried so hard to win Henry that she succeeded, even though she was 18 years older than him. By 1536 the bond between them was well established.

For Catherine the fight was impossible. She only asked her husband for a little friendship and tried hard to create sympathy among the people surrounding the King. She succeeded with Marguerite d'Angoulême (sister of Francis I), Duchess d'Étampes, and many other characters of position. But with regard to Diana, she had to repress her feelings.

If Catherine had a secret wound, she never showed it, however she maintained with this lady very courteous relations; Diana had for her a somewhat haughty protection...

Useful precautions! Catherine walked between parties, disarmed enemies and assured devotions. She connected with the King, surrounded him with flattery, rode a horse to give him pleasure, and intrepidly followed the hunts to the rough end without mercy to the animal.

With these little ingenuities she won his good graces, and for the future, she had occasion to appreciate how useful this was to her.

For ten years she had no children. A very serious matter! Her husband could repudiate her. She went to Francis I, overcome with emotion, weeping, asking him for protection. He, a man who knew how to govern France so well, answered her: "My daughter, if God wanted you as my daughter-in-law, I don't want it any other way; perhaps God wants to surrender to his and our wishes…’

The children were numerous - 7 grew to adults. Logically her position was fortified. The years passed and she became Queen. One morning of the disaster of the St. Quentin Revolution she was charged with the provisional regency of the kingdom and revealed political resources and an energy that she was not supposed to have. Even with this she continued to allow the authority of Poitiers.

Her 1st son - Francis, later marries the future Queen of Scots; her Charles was the King whose accomplishments, some, appear in this story; Henry was King of Poland and later, as Henry III was King of France for 15 years. Elizabeth married the King of Spain. Her little band, as they were called, grew up under her maternal attentions. She thinks that her children belong in France.

She has affection for her husband and sometimes, in her letters, lets out a grudge. Perhaps she feels that his position is false and humiliating. She writes to the Duchess of Guise: if you see the King, present him with my very humble recommendations; I would like to be Marguerite so I can see him... I think you still have plenty of time to be with your husband; pray God I could be with mine!

But what a strange thing! Next to this husband, a muscular, selfish and limited boy, incapable of a decision, destined to be dominated, she has an inexplicable shyness, tries to stay in his favor, without wanting to dispute him with anyone. A prodigy of concealment and dissimulation in a woman who is authoritarian by nature, eager for command!

And this last for 23 years!

On June 30, 1559, a tragic accident abruptly interrupted the festivities that the court and the city were celebrating in honor of Elizabeth of Valois' marriage. Henry II, at a pass of arms, was wounded by a lance from the Earl of Montgomery, one of the captains of his guard. The wound became poisoned and on July 10 the King died. Catherine conveniently cared for him, dressed in mourning, stood a whole day in awe before his deathbed, and responded in an extremely weak voice when the Venetian ambassador came to pay his respects.

Then she performed an act of authority that should have taken a weight off her heart: she hunted Diana of Poitiers from court. The favorite was 50 years old.

Will other acts come to the long-suppressed nature of acting freely? No! His eldest son is 15 years old, adult, who loves and respects his mother. Married, this Francis II by 14 months becomes King, that’s when he then has an ear infection and, although Ambrose Pare wants to operate on him, Catherine won't allow it and the little boy dies. His wife, Mary Stuart goes to Scotland.

The people say this death is either hunting fatigue or a cold caught before the burning of a Huguenot.

The new King is only 10 years old - he is our Charles IX. Catherine's time has come, for the 1st prince of royal blood who is old enough to be King, Antony of Bourbon, is unable to sustain his rights; the Guises are discredited for such an office, and she becomes regent, mistress of the state.

So she was 41 years old. She was getting fatter, but remained active, a good rider. She had developed knowledge, spoke two or three languages, had some notions of science, and above all, she had studied men. But Catherine was still under the political doctrines of Clement VII and those around him. She possessed, as in the past the gift of flattery, of insinuating herself, spying on friends and adversaries, plotting against the strong - those one fears to attack head-on... all legitimate means when it came to the state. She was the biggest liar in France. Brantôme, the memoirist, wrote about it: When she calls someone my friend, either she thinks he is a fool, or she is angry...

And one realizes that this Queen, who, in ordinary circumstances, with advisors of average talent could have truly safeguarded the interests of the kingdom, found herself in the presence of a terrible crisis, where her skills proved impotent, where her practices became crimes.

This is what our history is all about.²

SOME OF THE MOST IMPORTANT FRENCH PEOPLE

Francisco I - (1494-1547)

He was Henry II's father, therefore Catherine de Medici's father-in-law. He ruled from 1515 to 1547. He was called The Father of Letters, because he brought many artists and artisans to the country, thus greatly raising the intellectual and artistic level of France. Leonardo da Vinci died in his arms.

Margareth D‘Angoulême - (1492-1549)

She was Francisco I's sister and close friend. She wrote the "Heptameron. She went to live in Bern, in the Castle of Nerac, because she had remarried Henry d'Albret, King of Navarre, in 1527. She had a brilliant education, was very intelligent and kind, and prone to accept the protestant reformist ideas.

Joana d'Albret - (1528-1572)

She was Margareth d'Angoulême's daughter, therefore King Francis I's niece. She married Antonio de Bourbon, Duke of Vendôme. Analyzing her family background, you can imagine the scandal aroused by her murder with poisoned gloves.

Henry IV - (1553-1610)

He was Joana d'Albret's son, therefore Francis I's great-nephew. He was King of Navarre (1572), when he married Margareth of Valois, whose marriage is quoted here.

In 1589 he became King of France, upon the death of Henry in. After he had his marriage to Margot annulled, he married Mary of Medeis and had a whole royal offspring.

Henry II - (1519-1559)

He was Francis I's son. In 1547, after the death of his brother (Francis' 1st son), he ascended the throne of France (until 1559). He married Catarina de Médicis in 1533, with whom he had 10 children. His death was predicted by Nostradamus.

Francisco II - (1544-1560)

He was Catarina de Medici's first son. He married Maria Stuart of Scotland, but left no descendants. He ruled from 1559 to 1560.

Elizabeth - (1545-1568)

She was Catarina's daughter. In 1559 she married Philip II of Spain; it was at her wedding party that her father, Henry II, was injured and then died.

Claudia - (1547-1575)

She was Catarina's daughter. She married Charles II, Duke of Lorraine.

Charles IX - (1550-1574)

He ascended the throne at the age of 10, then under the regency of his mother, Catarina de Medici. He married Elizabeth of Austria, Emperor Maximilian II's daughter, in 1570, and had a daughter, named Maria Elizabeth, who soon died (1572 - 1578). The history mentions a bastard son with his lover. He ruled from 1560 to 1574.

Henry II - (1551-1589)

Catarina's favorite son. He appears in the book as Duke d'Anjou until he became King (1574) after the death of his brother, Charles IX. He ruled until 1589. He married, in 1575, Louise de Lorraine. He had no heirs.

Margareth de Valois - (1553-1615)

Also called Margot, she married Henry of Navarre (Henry IV) in 1572 (this marriage is described in the book). She wrote Memories.

Francisco - (1554-1585)

Catarina's last son, he was jealous of his mother's preference for Henry II. He had the titles Duke d'Alençon and later Duke d'Anjou.

THE BEGINNING OF RELIGIOUS CONFLICTS

Henry of Navarre is also called Bearnais, the Bearnese. His grandmother, Marguerite d'Angoulême, was a superior, jovial woman. She wrote a book that was very successful at the time, Heptameron, short stories in the style of Boccacio, delighting millions of readers to this day. Kind, ardent, cultured, she exerted a beneficial influence on her brother, Francis I. But she married the King of Navarre and exchanged the splendor of the Court and the company of her dynamic brother for the distant town of

Bearn, far from the big world and near the Pyrenees, surrounded by wolves and bandits. There his grandson was born.

His castle of Nérac became, at that time, the refuge of those whom the Sorbonne threatened.

The Sorbonne, founded by Robert de Sorbon in 1257, became the site of the general deliberations of the Faculty of Theology, which from then on was known by the name of Sorbonne. It attained great power.

It was often consulted to arbitrate disputes and increasingly meddled in disputes where it was not called upon. Its library was considered the Eighth Wonder and its teaching methods and oracles as unequaled. Its verdicts were not legal, but which judge would dare to repudiate them? Until 1520, for example, the Luther affair was an ecclesiastical squabble. It was up to the Sorbonne to denounce him as a heretic, a false prophet and an Anti-Christ. Admitting that the study of the classics aroused heresy, the Sorbonne banned the teaching of Greek from its strict environment. The individual who sought to learn Hebrew and read the Bible in its original form was liable to be burned to death!

Under orthodox views, only regular priests could analyze the ancient writings and the new contributions of civilization.

During the period of Francis I, the Sorbonne managed to survive. Only he, the King, decided to found the Collège de France, where Greek, Hebrew and the Philosophical, Medical and Mathematical Sciences were freely taught. This King had Protestant tendencies.

But, let us return to Margaret, his elder sister. She did not publicly profess to be a Protestant, and since it pleased the King the high way she looked at life, she was left to do as she pleased. And she sheltered all those who had no guarantees in France; even Calvin deserved her support. ‗

In her last writings, Marguerite intended to reconcile Classical Philosophy with the teachings of Christianity. But... the King retreated step by step toward the Church. First, he invited preachers of Lutheran leanings to his court, and then, without reason, drove them away.

One of them, one of the most able exponents of Luther in France, paid with the greatest sacrifice for the King's political expedients. Louis de Berquin was the main favorite of Francis I. At first the Sorbonne arrested him, accusing him of being a heretic, but had to release him due to the Court's intervention.

When the King himself became a prisoner of war in Madrid for the failure of the Battle of Pavia, Berquin was imprisoned for a second time. Only the return of Francis saved him from being burned alive. Already in his fifties, harmless and God-fearing, his friends tried to convince Berquin to seize the opportunity and run away, but they could not. The preacher challenged the trustees of the Sorbonne to a public debate and declared that everyone, not only the clergy, should read the Bible.

This attitude sealed his fate.

The King, in the decline of his star, threatened by Spain, which held his son’s hostage, surrounded by vassals linked to his enemies, dared not stop the papal persecutions. He abandoned his protégé and Berquin was burned on April 17, 1529. From that time on, the King no longer offered any resistance. He had never been a man of strong convictions and capitulated under the threats propagated by the Sorbonne.

Posters ostensibly attacking the dogmas of the Church began to appear on church doors, on the walls of houses in Paris, Rouen, Meaux. The miraculous statue of Our Lady had been reduced to pieces lying in the gutters. The people were agitated by the omen, and the Sorbonne propagated that unknown infidels were attending the Cortes and defending the new ideas.

Francis, worried, rushed to Paris to calm the excited population and found the daring posters nailed not only on church walls, but also in the Louvre, the royal quarter.

The machinations were slowly forging ahead culminating in the death, at the stake, of 24 people.

On January 19, 1535, the executions were commemorated, where the King was forced to publicly declare himself Catholic. The Sorbonne had won, and the Church began to abuse it.

In his first year of reign (1547), Henry II assembled a special court to fight the Lutherans, who were rudely treated. Many fled.

Under Francis I, in every city, there had been individual adherence to those new ideas. Now individuals were united. In order for their decrees to assume legal force, they held regular meetings of delegates. In 1558, there were approximately 400,000 Protestants in France.

Chronology of Civil or Religious Wars

(either giving victory to the Protestants, or the Catholics)

I - (1562-1563) Paz de Amboise (when Francis of Guise was assassinated).

II - (1567-1568) Paz de Longjumeau.

III - (1568-1570) Paz de São Germain.

IV - (1572-1573) Paz de La Rochelle.

V - (1574-1576) Paz de Beaulieu.

VI- (1576-1577) Terminada pelos Éditos de Poitiers e Bergerac.

VII - (1588) Tratado de Fleix.

VIII - (1586-1589) Assassinato de Henry III.³

FIRST PART

I. THE GOLDEN SHEEP

On a cloudy day in the month of September 1558, two knights were riding along a long road. They came from the south of France and were on their way to Paris. One of them, who looked like a servant, was riding an overloaded horse. He was short and had a strong body, his face was tanned, had a hooked nose, black eyes, thick lips, and curly hair; he resembled a gypsy. The mischievous mocking expression shining in his quick gaze was certainly a characteristic of this race.

A few steps ahead of him, walked his monsieur. A tall, strong young man of about twenty years old; his face with perfect features was framed by thick, curly dark hair and a short beard of the same color. His big gray eyes shone with a dark energy. His straight nose, agitated nostrils reflected his altered temper. The most outstanding feature of his entire figure was his mouth and thin lips that had an expression of cold pride and iron cruelty.

He wore a tunic and carried with him a dagger and a sword, which were distinctly visible. The dense dust that covered his cloak and the servant's clothes showed how long the journey had been.

- They had been wandering through the thick woods for more than an hour. The branches of the centuries-old trees formed an arch so closed over the hikers' heads that they barely let in any dim light. It was getting late and the darkness in the woods became greater every minute. Suddenly the knight who was ahead stopped his horse, turned back and shouted in an impatient tone:

- Hey, Henry! I think you have been mocked, they have given you the wrong direction. We will continue during the day. Now we must try to find the hotel before it gets dark. There we can rest and move our sleeping bodies. I spill the blood of Christ⁴ and starve to death; but the end of this forest never comes...

- The servant, looking at the thick woods and the dark path, spurred his horse and in a second placed himself at his monsieur’s side.

- A little more patience, Mr. Bryant! I have already come over a difficult road more than once. Look there! It's the stone cross that the owner of the tavern where we had lunch talked about.

- In no more than an hour and a half we will be at the The golden sheep hotel. I was told that the cuisine there is great.

- I just hope that the other travelers haven't finished everything, Henry added laughing.

Bryant, as he was called, said in a weary tone:

- Then let's go! Let's hope that the Golden Sheep does not let our hopes down. In any case we have to hurry so as not to get caught in the middle of the diabolical darkness. Stay close to me.

Convinced that the large guns could be drawn easily from their holsters in case of need, he spurred his horse and rode off quickly. As Henry had said, it wasn't an hour and a half before they arrived at a clearing in the center of which there was a house surrounded by a strong partition⁵. It was very clear here, and Bryant could see a signboard on which a fat, yellow sheep like a canary was drawn. It was lying on grass that looked more like a salad bowl. It was dark inside the house. Only a wide beam of light was coming out of a side window.

At Henry's noisy arrival, we were greeted immediately by the innkeeper and the boy who worked in the stable, both of whom hurried to put the guests up.

Bryant got off his horse and after having ordered Henry to approach him, he went with the owner into a room next to the kitchen. There were some tables surrounded by wooden stools. The fireplace could be seen through the open door, and the fire was burning brightly. A man of about thirty years old, dressed as a gentleman, sat at one of the tables.⁶ At the moment he was busy eating the big dinner that was in front of him. Without taking his face off the plate, this man with the unfriendly face stared at Bryant, who threw his cloak and hat on the bench, ordering the innkeeper to prepare a good plate of food quickly for him and his servant.

As long as dinner was not served, Bryant walked around the room to stretch his numb legs and arms; at times his envious and impatient gaze turned to the fried game, pâté, and big eggs with ham that were in front of the first travelers. The boy was really hungry. The smell of the stew excited his appetite more. For this reason, he was not pleasantly surprised when a stranger shouted out enthusiastically:

- I see your impatience and I completely understand. When you have walked a long way and your stomach is empty, it's not good to see someone else eating. So, sir, I would like to invite you to share my dinner with me, as long as you don't mind sitting at my table.

- We are very grateful to you. I accept your invitation with deep gratitude, replied Bryant, approaching the stranger. I am the Count of Saurmont!

- And I am Charles-Henry, the Baron of Mailor. Sit down, Count. If the food here on the table is not enough to satisfy your appetite, your dinner will give us the necessary strength.

- Soon the two men started chatting like old friends. They even decided to continue their trip together, since they were both on their way to Paris.

- After dinner the Baron proposed playing dice, since it was very early in the morning, and it was decided that they would only continue their trip the next day. Bryant gladly agreed.

Quickly the new acquaintances challenged each other during the first rounds. Both were bad players. Their greedy, ambitious faces and fiery expressions were proof that they wanted to win instead of spending time.

At first Saurmont won. Then the tables turned and the Baron won. The gold coins and Spanish doubloons from Bryant's heavy basket⁷ were little by little in the hands of the Baron, whose face showed satisfaction that his greed had been satisfied.

The burning passion for the game and the strong desire to return his defeat made the Count get excited and play until the last coin, after which he placed his trembling hand on his forehead.

Meanwhile, Henry calmly ate a hearty dinner in the kitchen. When he saw that his master began to play, he approached him and, from a respectable distance, began to watch the game unfold.

Breathing heavily, Saurmont leaned against the wall. Blinded by fatal passion, he ended up losing his last coin. Now he had nothing to go to Paris with.

Trembling with hatred he looked at the Baron. He phlegmatically counted the money, adding it to the one he had earned. He put it all together and put it in the heavy basket that had been on the table before.

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