he same. Capilupi is not
the official organ of the Roman court: he was not allowed to see the
letters of the Nuncio. He wrote to proclaim the praises of the King of
France and the Duke of Nevers. At that moment the French party in Rome
was divided by the quarrel between the ambassador Ferralz and the
Cardinal of Lorraine, who had contrived to get the management of French
affairs into his own hands.[111] Capilupi was on the side of the
Cardinal, and received information from those who were about him. The
chief anxiety of these men was that the official version which
attributed the massacre to a Huguenot conspiracy should obtain no
credence at Rome. If the Cardinal's enemies were overthrown without his
participation, it would confirm the report that he had become a cipher
in the State. He desired to vindicate for himself and his family the
authorship of the catastrophe. Catherine could not tolerate their claim
to a merit which she had made her own; and there was competition between
them for the first and largest share in the gratitude of the Holy See.
Lorraine prevailed with the Pope, who not only loaded him with honours,
but rewarded him with benefices worth 4000 crowns a year for his nephew,
and a gift of 20,000 crowns for his son. But he found that he had fallen
into disgrace at Paris, and feared for his position at Rome.[112] In
these circumstances Capilupi's book appeared, and enumerated a series of
facts proving that the Cardinal was cognisant of the royal design. It
adds little to the evidence of premeditation. Capilupi relates that
Santa Croce, returning from France, had assured Pius V., in the name of
Catherine, that she intended one day to entrap Coligny, and to make a
signal butchery of him and his adherents, and that letters in which the
Queen renewed this promise to the Pope had been read by credible
witnesses. Santa Croce was living, and did not contradict the statement.
The _Stratagemma_ had originally stated that Lorraine had informed
Sermoneta of the project soon after he arrived at Rome. In the reprint
this passage was omitted. The book had, therefore, undergone a censorial
revision, which enhances the authenticity of the final narrative.

Two other pieces are extant, which were printed at the Stamperia
Camerale, and show what was believed at Rome. One is in the shape of a
letter written at Lyons in the midst of scenes of death, and describing
what the author had witnessed on the spot, and what he heard f