ots had
survived four sanguinary wars into which they had been driven by their
implacable enemies. They were just entering upon a fifth war, under
favorable auspices, for they had made it manifest to all men that their
success depended less upon the lives of leaders, of whom they might be
robbed by the hand of the assassin, than upon a conviction of the
righteousness of their cause, which no sophistry of their opponents
could dissipate. The Huguenots, at the death of Charles the Ninth,
stood before the world a well-defined body, that had outgrown the
feebleness of infancy, and had proved itself entitled to consideration
and respect. Thus much was certain.

The subsequent fortunes of the Huguenots of France--their wars until
they obtained recognition and some measure of justice in the Edict of
Nantes; the gradual infringement upon their guaranteed rights,
culminating in the revocation of the edict, and the loss to the kingdom
of the most industrious part of the population; their sufferings "under
the cross" until the publication of the Edict of Toleration--these offer
an inviting field of investigation, upon which I may at some future time
be tempted to enter.[1]

The history of the Huguenots during a great part of the period covered
by this work, is, in fact, the history of France as well. The outlines
of the action and some of the characters that come upon the stage are,
consequently, familiar to the reader of general history. The period has
been treated cursorily in writings extending over wider limits, while
several of the most striking incidents, including, especially, the
Massacre of St. Bartholomew's Day, have been made the subject of special
disquisitions. Yet, although much study and ingenuity have been expended
in elucidating the more difficult and obscure points, there is,
especially in the English language, a lack of works upon the general
theme, combining painstaking investigation into the older (but not,
necessarily, better known) sources of information, and an acquaintance
with the results of modern research.

The last twenty-five or thirty years have been remarkably fruitful in
discoveries and publications shedding light upon the history of France
during the age of the Reformation and the years immediately following.
The archives of all the principal, and many of the secondary, capitals
of Europe have been explored. Valuable manuscripts previously known to
few scholars--if, indeed, known to any--have b