by a Protestant
near Orleans. Coligny was accused of inciting the crime, which he
denied, though he confessed that he was glad of it. [Sidenote: Edict
of Amboise March 19, 1563] The immediate beneficiary of the death of
the duke was not the Huguenot, {215} however, so much as Catharine de'
Medici. Continuing to put into practise her policy of tolerance she
issued an edict granting liberty of conscience to all and liberty of
worship under certain restrictions. Great nobles were allowed to hold
meetings for divine service according to the reformed manner in their
own houses, and one village in each bailiwick was allowed to have a
Protestant chapel.

How consistently secular was Catharine's policy became apparent at this
time when she refused to publish the decrees of the Council of Trent,
fearing that they might infringe on the liberties of the Gallican
church. In this she had the full support of most French Catholics.
She continued to work for religious peace. One of her methods was
characteristic of her and of the time. She selected "a flying
squadron" of twenty-four beautiful maids of honor of high rank and low
principles to help her seduce the refractory nobles on both sides. In
many cases she was successful. Conde, in love with one--or possibly
with several--of these sirens, forgot everything else, his wife, his
party, his religion. His death in 1569 threw the leadership of the
Huguenots into the steadier and stronger grasp of Coligny.

But such means of dealing with a profoundly dangerous crisis were of
course but the most wretched palliatives. The Catholic bigots would
permit no dallying with the heretics. In 1567 they were strong enough
to secure the disgrace of L'Hopital and in the following year to extort
a royal edict unconditionally forbidding the exercise of the reformed
cult. The Huguenots again rebelled and in 1569 suffered two severe
defeats [Sidenote: Huguenots defeated] at Jarnac and at Moncontour.
The Catholics were jubilant, fully believing, as Sully says, that at
last the Protestants would have to submit. But nothing is more
remarkable than the apparently slight effect of military success or
failure on the {216} strength and numbers of the two faiths. "We had
beaten our enemies over and over again," cried the Catholic soldier
Montluc in a rage, "we were winning by force of arms but they triumphed
by means of their diabolical writings."

The Huguenots, however, did not rely entirely