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Neither Politique nor Patriot? Henri, duc de Montmorency and Philip II, 1582–1589*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 February 2009

Joan Davies
Joan Davies
Affiliation:
University of Essex
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Extract

In 1581 Antoinette de La Marck, the devout duchesse de Montmorency made a pilgrimage to the shrine of the Virgin at Montserrat in Catalonia. The next year her husband Henri de Montmorency, the governor of Languedoc, corresponded with the viceroy of Catalonia about the problem of banditry which was rife on both sides of the frontier. In 1583, Montmorency's servant carried letters to Charles Emmanuel, duke of Savoy, hidden in the soles of his shoes. During the festivities for the wedding of Charles Emmanuel to the infanta Catalina in 1585, Giuseppe Lercaro, Montmorency's Genoese-born intendant desfinances, spent some ten days in Barcelona concealed in the lodgings of Savoy's ambassador and had several clandestine interviews with both the duke and his new father-in-law Philip II. In 1588 Philip offered 100,000 francs towards the dowry of Montmorency's daughter Charlotte, provided that she married the son of the due de Guise and thus reconciled the two families whose rivalry had dominated the French political scene since the 1540s. These incidents, unremarkable as they may individually appear, formed part of the negotiations between Henri due de Montmorency and Philip II which, in notable contrast to those of the Spanish king with the Guise family, have been little studied by historians. Consequently, Montmorency's reputation now is generally that of a politique and patriot. This paper offers a rather different appraisal of him.

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Articles
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The Historical Journal , Volume 34 , Issue 3 , September 1991 , pp. 539 - 566
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Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1991

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References

1 On Guise's negotiations, de Croze, J., Les Guises, les Valois et Philippe II (2 vols., Paris, 1866)Google Scholar is fundamental; see also Jensen, D. L., Diplomacy and dogmatism (Cambridge, Mass., 1964)CrossRefGoogle Scholar and Constant, J.-M., Les Guise (Paris, 1984)CrossRefGoogle Scholar. Jensen refers briefly to Montmorency's negotiations but believes they began in 1585. Sutherland, N. M., The French secretaries of state in the age of Catherine de Medici (London, 1962)Google Scholar mentions negotiations between 1582 and 1584. Montmorency's biographer Palm, F. C., Politics and religion in sixteenth century France (Boston, 1927)Google Scholar acknowledges contacts from 1584 to 1588 but claims, p. 186, ‘while Montmorency appeared willing to bargain with any individual or faction in order to retain his office, yet at no time did he subordinate the interest of the monarchy to those of other rulers’. Raulich, I., Storia di Carlo Emanuele duca di Savoia (2 vols., Milan, 1896, 1902)Google Scholar provides the Savoyard context. Two unpublished doctoral theses discuss some aspects: Davies, J. M., ‘Languedoc and its gouverneur, Henri de Montmorency Damville, 1563–1589’ (London, 1975)Google Scholar and Greengrass, M., ‘War, politics and religion in Languedoc during the government of Henri de Montmorency-Damville, 1574–1610’ (Oxford, 1979)Google Scholar.

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11 Avancino only saw Montmorency and his wife on his first visit to Pézenas and Quintara was hidden for nine days: ‘Relatiòn de lo que Avancino ha tratado’ undated but encl. with Terranova to Philip II, 12 May 1582, B.L., Add. MS 28421, fos. 103–5, 62–4; Terranova to Philip II, 13 July 1582, ibid. fos. 65–6; Saint-Gouard to Henri III, 17 Sept. 1582, B.N., MS Fr. 16108, fo. 393. Saint-Gouard knew that Martin de Gonsenas had seen Montmorency and reported to Delgado, secretary of the council of war, 11 June 1582, ibid. fo. 272. Montmorency's household accounts reveal contacts with Spain: Musée Condé, series A, carton 2, extraordinary expenses 1582, 18 Apr., 1 July, messengers from Spain; 31 July, messenger to Spain. On banditry see Reglá, J., Felip II i Catalunya (Barcelona, 1956), p. 93 for 1582Google Scholar; also Cebriá, E. Belenguer, La problemática del cambio político en la España de Felipe II (Barcelona, 1980), pp. 28–34Google Scholar.

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13 Mary, regent of the Netherlands reported to Charles V at the end of 1541 that an understanding with Montmorency was impossible, de Stoutz, F. Decrue, Anne de Montmorency, grand maître et connétable de France à la com, aux armées et au conseil du roi François I (Paris, 1885), pp. 432–3Google Scholar. One of the constable's secretaries intrigued in Spain in 1567, de Stoutz, F. Decrue, Anne de Montmorency, connétable et pair de France sous les rois Henri II, François II et Charles IX (Paris, 1889), p. 409Google Scholar.

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19 Sfondrato to Philip II, 21 Nov. 1581, A.G.S.E., 1253, fo. 172; Pascal, A., Il marchesato di Saluzzo e la riforma protestante durante il periodo della dominatione francese, 1548–1588 (Florence, 1960), pp. 548–50, 556–61Google Scholar; Ritter, R., Catherine de Bourbon 1559–1604 (2 vols., Paris, 1985), I, 252–3, 263–4Google Scholar; Comarmond, M., ‘Correspondance relative au projet de mariage entre Charles-Emmanuel due de Savoie ct la princesse soeur de Henri IV’, Bulletin du Comité de la Langue, de l'Hisioire et des Arts de la France, II (1853–1854), 57–64Google Scholar; Rigal, J. and de Gröer, L., ‘Le recueil Salvaing’, Bulletin de la Société des Amis du Château de Pau, LXXVI (1979), 1–18Google Scholar.

20 Sfondrato to Philip II, 13 Dec. 1582, A.G.S.E. 1255, fo. 189; same to same, 2 May 1583, B.L., Add. MS 28418, fo. 157V.

21 Sfondrato to Philip II, 4 and 17 Apr., 2 May 1583, B.L., Add. MS 28418, fos. 146, 149V, 155V–157V.

22 Sfondrato to Philip II, 20 Mar. 1583, B.L., Add. MS 28418, fos. 139–40.

23 ‘Propositión y respuesta de Memoransi’ [Sept. 1583], copy with Italian text of agreement signed by Alessandro Constantino and Ferrante Pagano, A.G.S.E. 1258, fo. 166. This document and the letter in which it was enclosed from Terranova to Philip II, 25 Sept. 1583, ibid. fo. 165, are reproduced with minor omissions in Greengrass, ‘War, politics and religion’, appendix 3.

24 Instructions of Charles Emmanuel to Constantino, 30 May 1583, A.G.S.E. 1257, quoted in Raulich, , Carlo Emanuele, I, 129–131Google Scholar, no folio cited; Philip II to Terranova, 30 June 1583, A.G.S.E. 1257, fo. 106. Sfondrato to Philip II, 6 Sept. 1583, ibid. 1257 fo. 156

25 Terranova to Philip II, 25 Sept. 1583, A.G.S.E. 1258, fo. 165; same to same, 28 Oct. 1583, ibid. fo. 182; Sfondrato to Philip II, 31 Oct. 1583, B.L., Add. M S 28418, fos. 185V–86V.

26 Sfondrato to Philip II, 15 Nov. 1583, B.L., Add. MS 28418, fos. 205–7.

27 He had made a similar claim to Emmanuel Philibert in 1574. Avancino's death in September made it impossible to verify his alleged offer of the infanta's hand.

28 Instructions from Charles Emmanuel to Pallavicino, his ambassador in Madrid, 24 Nov. 1583, B.L., Add. MS 28418, fo. 224; Sfondrato to Philip II, 15 and 24 Nov. 1583, ibid. fos. 209, 211–2.

29 ‘Instruction au sieur de Rieux’, 27 05 1583, Devic, and Vaissète, , Histoire de Languedoc, XII, 1363–1371Google Scholar; for Béziers, see ‘Journal de Louis Charbonneau’, Germain, A. (ed.), Mémoires de la Société Archéologique de Montpellier, VI (1870–1876), 421–33Google Scholar and Sfondrato to Philip II, 4 Apr. 1583, B.L., Add. MS 28418, fo. 146V.; for Pont-Saint-Esprit, Cobham, to Walsingham, , 29 03 1583, Calendar of State Papers Foreign, Elizabeth (hereafter C.S.P.F.), XXVII, 217Google Scholar.

30 ‘Response du due de Montmorency’, 21 07 1583, Devic, and Vaissète, , Histoire de Languedoc, XII, 1371–82Google Scholar. Montmorency as marshal claimed the right to inspect Rieux's papers and found Henri Ill's orders for town governors in Languedoc to obey only Joyeuse: Sfondrato to Philip II, 24 Nov. 1583, B.L., Add. MS 28418, fo. 212v.

31 Cobham, to Walsingham, , 22 05 1583, C.S.P.F., XVII, 362Google Scholar; Henri III to Villeroy, undated [Aug. 1583], B.N., MS n.a.fr. 1245, fo. 69.

32 Stafford, to Walsingham, , 24 03 1584, C.S.P.F., XVII, 427Google Scholar.

33 Sfondrato to Philip II, 21 Jan. 1584, B.L., Add. MS 28418, fo. 252.

34 ‘Journal de Charbonneau’, pp. 428–31.

35 Vaissière, , Messieurs de Joyeuse, pp. 120–7Google Scholar; Montmorency to Gregory XII, 9 Mar. 1583. Theiner, A. (ed.), Annales Ecclesiastici (3 vols., Rome, 1856), III, 747Google Scholar.

36 Duplessis-Mornay to Navarre, 20 Feb. and 9 Mar. 1584, Duplessis-Mornay, P., Mémoires el correspondance pour servir à l'histoire de la Réformation et des guerres civiles etreligieuses en France depuis Pan 1571 jusqu'en 1623 (12 vols., Paris, 1824–1825), II; 522 57Google Scholar.

37 Villeroy to Revol, 18 Feb. 1584, B.N., MS Fr. 16911, fo. 144; Villeroy to Bellièvre, 20 Feb. 1584, B.N., MS Fr. 15567, fo. 95. The plot deserves further investigation for the light which it sheds on Montmorency's patronage network and links with other malcontents. It coincided with rumours of conspiracies involving the Guises in north and east France.

38 This traditional title derived from his progenitor's baptism with Clovis, , Labatut, J.-P., Les ducs et pairs de France au XVIIe siècle (Paris, 1972), p. 361Google Scholar. Montmorency asserted that as first baron and officer of the crown he had a claim to succeed should the blood royal die out: Stafford, to Walsingham, , 5 05 1586, C.S.P.F., XX, 602Google Scholar.

39 For these negotiations from 1578 see Ritter, , Catherine de Bourbon, I, pp. 205–7, 253–7Google Scholar; Duplessis-Mornay, , Mémoires, I, pp. 140–1Google Scholar; Sully, , Oeconomies royales, ed. Buisseret, D. and Barbiche, B. (Paris, 1970 – in progress) I, pp. 117–9Google Scholar.

40 Jensen, , Diplomacy and dogmatism, pp. 137–40Google Scholar; Dickerman, E. H., ‘A neglected phase of the Spanish Armada: the catholic league's Picard offensive of 1587’, Canadian Journal of History, XI (1976), 19–23CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

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42 Treaty of Nemours, 7 July 1585, Mont, Du, Corps universel, V, 453–4Google Scholar.

43 ‘Journal de Charbonneau’, pp. 436–49. Three messengers were sent to Turin to obtain funds for his gendarmes in the winter of 1583–4, but the Spanish refused to oblige until he ratified the treaty, Sfondrato to Philip II, 12 Dec. 1583, B.L., Add. MS 28418, fo. 232; Philip II to Terranova, 31 Mar. 1584, A.G.S.E. 1259, fo. 129.

44 Terranova to Philip II, 12 May 1584, A.G.S.E. 1259, fo. 34; Philip II to Terranova, 29 June 1584, A.G.S.E. 1259, fo. 159.

45 Longlée, to Henri, III, 12 Apr. 1584, Mousset, A. (ed.) Dépêches diplomatiques de M. de Longlée, résident de France en Espagne,1582–1590 (Paris, 1912), p. 50Google Scholar; Leyssin to Henri III, 30 Mar. 1584, B.N., MS Fr. 15567, fo. 122; Joyeuse to Henri III, 7 Apr. 1584, Luchitsky, I. V. (ed.), Documents inédits pour servir à l'histoire de la réforme et de la ligue (Kiev, 1875), p. 164Google Scholar.

46 This advice, ‘Un grand, malcontent de son prince, peult ouvrir la porte de son eslat à son ennemi; čest chose qui šest faicte aultrefois, mesmes de nostre temps: et ung sage prince doibt regarder plus ďune fois à ne désespérer telles personnes’, may be compared with Montmorency's own response in 1583 and with Bacon's, Francis criticism of Henri III: ‘Lettre de discours’, 18 03 1584Google Scholar, Duplessis-Mornay, , Mémoires, II, 561Google Scholar; n. 33 above; and Bacon, F., Essays, (Everyman edition, London, 1965), p. 43Google Scholar.

47 Bellièvre to Villeroy, Aug. 1584, B.N., MS Fr. 15891, fo. 323; on these negotiations, Davies, , ‘Languedoc and its gouverneur’, pp. 294–305Google Scholar.

48 Procès-verbal of estates of Languedoc, 5–18 July 1585, A.N., H 74818, fo. 211.

49 Letters patent of Henri III, September 1585, P.R.O., S.P. 78/14, fo. 88.

50 ‘Protestation de M. le duc de Montmorency’, Duplessis-Mornay, , Mémoires, III, 186–95Google Scholar; also joint declaration with Navarre and Condé, ibid. pp. 159–82.

51 Reports of negotiations with the viceroy of Catalonia and rumour that troops could be sent under cover of the Pyrenean smugglers: Longlée, to Henri, III, 14 07 1584, Dépêches diplomatiques, p. 96Google Scholar; Sfondrato to Philip II, 11 Oct. 1584, B.L., Add. MS 28418, fo. 284.

52 ‘Mémoires de Batailler sur les guerres civiles’, Pradel, C. (ed.), Archives historiques de l'Albigeois, II (1894), 3Google Scholar.

53 Sfondrato to Philip II, 23 Oct. 1584, and 1 Feb. 1585, B.L., Add. MS 28418, fos. 294–5 and fo. 326V.; Longlée, to Henri, III, 23 04 1585, Dépêches diplomatiques, p. 133Google Scholar. This proposal and the 1581 visit of Montmorency's wife are confused by Greengrass, , ‘War, politics and religion’, p. 223Google Scholar.

54 ‘Tagliaferro’ [Montmorency, ] to Emmanuel, Charles, 27 06 1585Google Scholar, B.L., Add. MS 28418, fos. 338–9.

55 Lercaro to Zúñiga, 18 May 1585, B.L., Add. MS 28417, fo. 69. Constantino to Philip II, undated [July/Aug. 1587], A.G.S.E. 1266, fo. 95.

56 Longlée, to Henri, III, 14 and 23 05 1585, Dépêches diplomatiques, pp. 139–40, 146Google Scholar. As trésorier de l'extraordinaire des guerres, Lercaro received over 47,000 écus in 1585, but this may have included funds raised in Languedoc: 29,176 écus in July, ‘estat au vray de la despence’, Archives Départementales de l'Hérault, B 22,383 (I owe this reference to Dr M. Greengrass); and 18,140 écus for which he had not accounted before his death, Convers to Montmorency, 27 Apr. 1603, Musée Condé, Chantilly, Papiers Condé, series L (lettres des Montmorency), lxx, fo. 228.

57 ‘Tagliaferro’ to Charles Emmanuel, 27 June 1585, B.L., Add MS 28418, fos. 338–9; Sfondrato to Philip II, 7 Sept. 1585, B.L., Add. MS 28418, fos. 360–1; Philip II to Sfondrato, 30 Sept. 1585, A.G.S.E. 1260, fo. 213. For recruitment of Albanian light cavalry see Daniel, G., Histoire de la milice française (2 vols., Paris, 1721), I, 230–2Google Scholar.

58 Elizabeth's envoy went to Navarre, then to kiss Montmorency's hands: instructions for Champernowne, Arthur, 04 1585, C.S.P.F., XIX, 394Google Scholar; ‘Journal de Charbonneau’, p. 457.

59 Sfondrato to Philip II, 7 Sept. 1585, B.L., Add. MS 28418, fo. 361. Philip expressed his scepticism in marginal comments.

60 Emmanuel, Charles to ‘Tallaferro’, 20 08 1585Google Scholar, B.L., Add. MS 28418, fo. 350.

61 Philip II to Sfondrato, 9 Apr. 1586, A.G.S.E. 1261, fo. 140.

62 Guise, to Mendoza, , 1 10 1585, Croze, Les Guises, I, 358Google Scholar. Guise may not have known of Montmorency's existing relations with Spain and Savoy.

63 Same to same, 24 Nov. 1585 and 29 Jan. 1586, ibid. pp. 365, 368; newsletter from Rome, 12/22 Apr. 1586, C.S.P.F., XX, 545; Jehan de Piles to due de Nevers, 20 May 1586, B.N., MS Fr. 3612, fo. 13.

64 Instructions to Constantino, 18 Sept. 1586, Archivio di Stato, Turin (hereafter A.S.T.), negoziazioni con Francia, IV, 25.

65 Philip II to Sfondrato, 26 Aug. 1586, A.G.S.E. 1261, fo. 155.

66 Claude Matthieu to Nevers, 10 Jan. 1586, B.N., MS Fr. 3612, fo. 24; ‘Journal du due de Montmorency, 1586–1587’, Charvet, G. (ed.), Comptes-rendus de la société scientifique et littéraite d'Alais, VII (1875), 30Google Scholar. Gondi's mission was principally to obtain permission for the sale of church lands in order to fund the fight against heresy, Martin, A. L., Henry III and the Jesuit Politicians (Geneva, 1973), pp. 160–1Google Scholar.

67 Des Alpries to Montmorency, 22 Nov. 1587, Musée Condé, series L, xxi, fo. 350.

68 Montmorency's favourite mistress and their son owned property in the Comtat. His letter to the nuncio defending his alliance with Navarre made no specific mention of his protection of the territory: Ragazzoni to Rusticucci, 2 Sept. 1585, Acta Nuntiaturae Gallicae (hereafter A.N.G.) ed. Lestocquoy, J. et al. (Rome and Paris, 1961 – in progress), II, 446Google Scholar; Montmorency to Ragazzoni, 22 Aug. 1585, de l'Épinois, H., La ligue et les papes (Paris, 1886), pp. 29–30Google Scholar.

69 Gregory, XIII to Damville, , 17 08 1574, 28 July and 17 Nov. 1576, Annales Ecclesiastici, I, 296, II, 236, 239Google Scholar; Sixtus V to Montmorency, 24 Aug., and 21 Sept., 1585, de L'Estoile, P., Journal pour It règne de Henri III 1574–1589, ed. Lefevre, L. R. (Paris, 1943), pp. 435–6Google Scholar; Ragazzoni, to Rusticucci, , 7 Oct. 1585, 17 03 1586, A.N.G., II, 457, 539Google Scholar.

70 Guise, to Mendoza, , 1 10 1585, Croze, Les Guises, I, 358Google Scholar; Martin, A. L., ‘Fabio Mirto Frangipani and papal policy in France’, Archivum Historiae Pontiftciae, XVII (1979), 233, 238Google Scholar.

71 Pisany to Henri III, 11 Sept. 1586, B.L., Add. MS 30627, fos. 9–15. Savoy's ambassador to the Holy See kept Sixtus in touch with Montmorency's views.

72 Dufour, A. (ed.), Lettres de René de Lucinge sur la cour de Henri III (Geneva, 1966), p. 100, n. 4Google Scholar.

73 Instructions to Constantino, Jan. 1586, A.S.T., negoziazioni con Francia, IV, 23.

74 Instructions to Pallavicino, Feb. 1586, A.S.T., negoziazioni con Spagna, I, 19.

75 Instructions to Constantino, 18 Sept. 1586.

76 Guise also made excessive dowry demands in other cases: Crouzet, D., ‘Recherches sur la crise de l'aristocratie en France au XVIe siècle: les dettes de la maison de Nevers’, Histoire, Economie et Société, I (1982), 45Google Scholar.

77 Dolfin to Signoria, 8 May 1586, B.N., MS Italien 1735, fo. 44–5; Philip II to Sfondrato, 26 Aug. 1586, A.G.S.E., 1261, fo. 155. The infanta Maria had also been a candidate for his son, according to Montmorency.

78 Vaissière, , Messieurs de Joyeuse, p. 207Google Scholar; Guise to Leyssin (?), 24 July 1587, B.N., MS Clairambault 357, fo. 422.

79 ‘Instruction pour le due de Montmorency’, 10 Nov. 1587, B.N., MS Fr. 3320, fo. 30, printed in de Puchesse, G. Baguenault (ed.). Lettres de Catherine de Médicis (9 vols., Paris, 1880–1895), VII, 413–4 but misdated 1581Google Scholar.

80 Raulich, , Carlo Emanuele, I, 327–8, 348Google Scholar.

81 Constantino to Philip II, undated [July/Aug. 1587], A.G.S.E. K1448, fo. 95. This document, in Italian, is described by Jensen, , Diplomacy and dogmatism, p. 280Google Scholar, as a letter from Philip to the comendador mayor of Castile and Sfondrato and is annotated in French as being a report from these two to Philip, but it begins with the statement that the late comendador mayor and Sfondrato had made known to Charles Emmanuel the wishes of Philip. Juan de Zúñiga, comendador mayor of Castile died in Nov. 1586.

82 Bailhache, J., ‘Le monnayage de Montmorency pendant la ligue’, Revue numismatique, 4th series, XXXV (1932), 37–91Google Scholar describes his operation of the Montpellier and other mints.

83 Prucès-verbal of assembly of ‘estates’ at Beaucaire, 21 Apr.–2 May, 1587, Archives départementales du Gard, C 924 [no pagination]; articles of assembly of protestants of basLanguedoc, Nîmes, Feb. 1587, ibid. He was said to have taken more than a million [écus] in gold from royal finances: Cavriana to grand duke of Tuscany, 5 Jan. 1587. Desjardins, A. and Canestrini, G. (eds.), Négotiations diplomatiques de la France avec la Toscane (6 vols., Paris, 1859–1886), IV, 667Google Scholar.

84 ‘Journal de Charbonneau’, p. 474.

85 Instruction to Constantino, May 1588, A.G.S.E. K1448, fo. 187; Philip II to Montmorency and to madame de Montmorency, 12 May 1588, ibid. fos. 181, 182.

86 Mendoza, to Philip, II, 9 08 1588, Croze, Les Guises, II, 357Google Scholar; Philip II to Mendoza, 28 July 1588, ibid. pp. 357–8; Guise to Mendoza, 5 Sept. 1588, ibid. pp. 358–9.

87 Henri III to Montmorency, 20 Aug. 1588, B.N., MS Fr. 3330, fo. 77; instruction to Marron, Joyeuse's secretary, 21 Aug. 1588, B.N., MS Fr. 15574, fo. 305.

88 Instruction to Belloy, Dec. 1588, Devic, and Vaissète, , Histoire de Languedoc, XII, 1440–3Google Scholar; Montmorency to Henri III, 31 Jan [1589], B.N., MS Dupuy 61, fo. 7.

89 Letters patent, 2 Mar. 1589, and confirmation with amnesty for all acts, 5 June 1589, B.N., MS Fr. 21542, fos. 260, 262.

90 Cavriana to grand duke of Tuscany, , 11 03 1589, Négotiations diplomatiques, IV, 867Google Scholar; Mocenigo to Signoria, 28 Mar. 1589, B.N., MS Italien 1738, fo. 8v.; Mendoza, to Philip, II, 11 Apr. 1589, Historical Manuscripts Commission, Calendar of the manuscripts of the marquis of Salisbury, at Hatfield House (London, 1883 – in progress), II, 83Google Scholar; Henri III to madame de Montmorency, 5 June 1589, B.N., MS Fr. 3330, fo. 81.

91 Raulich, , Carlo Emanuele, II, 122Google Scholar.

92 Jensen, , Diplomacy and dogmatism, pp. 163–7Google Scholar; Raulich, , Carlo Emanuele, I, 348, 358Google Scholar.

93 Raulich, , Carlo Emanuele, II, 108–9, 1I5–6, 126, 167Google Scholar.

94 Montmorency, to Elizabeth, I, 3 10 1590, List and Analysis of State Papers Foreign, II, 233Google Scholar; Vaissière, Messieurs de Joyeuse, pp. 294–301.

95 Mousset, A., Un résident de France en Espagne au temps de la ligue: Pierre de Ségusson 1583–1530 (Paris, 1908), esp. pp. 23–4, 44Google Scholar.

96 Guise had similar problems: Jensen, , Diplomacy and dogmatism, pp. 87–8Google Scholar.

97 Longlée, to Henri, III, 29 Feb. 1584, 14 Apr. 1585, 6 03 1586, Dépêches diplomatiques, pp. 28, 126, 236Google Scholar; Lippomano, to Signoria, , 9 04 1587, C.S.P. Venetian, VIII, 264Google Scholar.

98 Secret memorandum of Hautefort, March 1584, A.N., AB XIX, 3623; Hautefort to Villeroy, March 1584, B.N., MS Fr. 15568, fo. 226; Longlée, to Henri, III, 7 July 1584, 23 May 1585, 9 July 1586, 29 10 1586, Dépêches diplomatiques, pp. 91, 146, 282, 325Google Scholar.

99 Longlée to Henri III, 12 Apr. 1584, ibid. p. 50; Revol to Villeroy, 24 Apr. 1584, B.N., MS Fr. 16911, fo. 221.

100 ‘Journal de Charbonneau’, p. 449; ‘Mémoires de Batailler’, p. 44; Braudel, F., The Mediterranean and the Mediterranean world in the age of Philip II (2 vols., London, 1975), II, 1206–7Google Scholar.

101 L'Épinois, , La ligue et lespapes, p. 32Google Scholar. The offers made to Navarre were also more generous: 300,000 écus in advance and 100,000 a month while in arms, according to Duplessis-Mornay; 200,000 in advance and 200,000 during campaigns, according to Sully; 200,000 in advance, 400,000 when four towns had been taken, and 600,000 a year during campaigns, according to d'Aubigné, A., Histoire universelle (10 vols., Paris, 1886–1909), VI, 286–8Google Scholar.

102 Sfondrato to Philip II, 13 Dec. 1582, A.G.S.E. 1255, fo. 189. Henri further alienated Montmorency by supporting his brother Méru in a lawsuit over their inheritance: Newsletter from France, Mar. 1583, C.S.P.F., XVII, 235–6. I hope to examine Montmorency's fortune in detail elsewhere.

103 Settlement with Jacques Poyanne, brother and heir of Janin, 6 Apr. 1602, A.N., M.C. Etude LIV, 458. Greengrass, M., ‘Noble affinities in early modern France: the case of Henri I de Montmorency, constable of France’, European History Quarterly, XVI (1986), 275–311CrossRefGoogle Scholar confuses the Poyano family with the Paganos and mistakenly claims that the debt was cancelled.

104 Preliminary surveys by Greengrass, ‘Noble affinities’;, and Davies, J., ‘Family service and family strategies: the household of Henri, due de Montmorency, ca. 1590–1610’, Bulletin of the Society for Renaissance Studies, III (1985), 27–43Google Scholar.

105 Sfondrato to Philip II, 21 Nov. 1581, A.G.S.E. 1253, fo. 172; Revol to Villeroy, 26 June 1584, B.N., MS Fr. 16911, fo. 274. Montmorency could speak if not write Italian: Ritter, R., Lettres du cardinal de Florence sur Henri IV et sur la France 1596–1598 (Paris, 1955), pp. 148–9Google Scholar.

106 A helpful survey of the French context is Kettering, S., Patrons, brokers and clients in seventeenth-century France (New York and Oxford, 1986)Google Scholar.

107 Ranum, O., ‘The French ritual of tyrannicide in the late sixteenth century’, Sixteenth Century Journal, XI (1980), 63–82CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

108 Sfondrato to Philip II, 18 Oct. 1582, B.L., Add. MS 28418, fo. 103; same to same, 27 Dec. 1582, A.G.S.E. 1257, fo. 150; ‘Journal de Charbonneau’, p. 422. Cobham, to Walsingham, , 21 06 1583, C.S.P.F., XVII, 410Google Scholar; Stafford, to Walsingham, , 7 11 1583, C.S.P.F., XVIII, 197Google Scholar. Montmorency asked for an auditor of the Rote to investigate an alleged assassination attempt: Pisany to Henri III, 13 July 1587, B.L., Add. MS 30627, fo. 273.

109 This view is presented by Palm, Politics and religion, and by Yardeni, La conscience nationale en France. For a recent discussion of the politiques: Holt, M. P., The duke of Anjou and the politique struggle during the wars of religion (Cambridge, 1986)CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

110 See n. 4 above.

111 Jouanna, , ‘Protection des fideles’, pp. 288–9Google Scholar. His servants were catholics, although some had protestant relatives, and he refused to attend protestant services even in the company of Navarre.

112 The tone of their relationship may be gauged from his replies to overtures from Henri. In 1585 he referred to the ‘roy double’ and the ‘sales esbatz qu'il prend en ses amours desréglées’; in 1586 he asked ‘que me peult-il arriver de bon sur mes afayres puisque mes ennemis possédent It Roy?’, Lucinge, to Emmanuel, Charles, 28 Sept. 1585, Lettres sur les débuts de la ligue, ed. Dufour, A. (Geneva, 1964), p. 194Google Scholar; same to same, 14 May 1586, Lettres sur la cour, p. 185.

113 James, M. E., Society, politics and culture: studies in early modern England (Cambridge, 1986), p. 432CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

114 ‘relación de lo que Avancino ha tratado’, May 1582, B.L., Add. MS 28421, fo. 103V; Sfondrato to Philip II, 21 Jan. 1584, B.L., Add. MS 28418, fo. 251V. The perceptive Lucinge believed he had no other intention than to secure himself in Languedoc as governor, and as he grew older his main concern would be for his children and their inheritance: Dufour, A. (ed.), ‘Le miroir des princes ou grands de la France’, Annuaire-bulletin de la Société de l'Histoire de Frame (1954–1955), PP. 121–3Google Scholar.

115 Forcadel, E., Montmorency-Gaulois (Toulouse, 1571)Google Scholar; Arnauld, A., Presentation des lettres de l'office de monsieur le connestable faicte en parlement le xxi novembre 1595 (Paris, 1595)Google Scholar. Arnauld, Antoine, a member of Montmorency's administrative council from 1596, was ironically the author of a critique of Savoy's policies, Première Savoysiene (Paris, 1600)Google Scholar.

116 de Gardoqui, J. Cano, Tensiones hispano-francesas en el siglo XVII: la conspiración de Biron, 1602 (Valladolid, 1970)Google Scholar. Suspicions about Montmorency's loyalty reported by English agents in 1591–1592: List and analysis of State Papers Foreign, III, 299, 305, 308. Charles Emmanuel was reported, by a cleric in Venice, to hate him because of their failed negotiations: frère Antoine Girart to Montmorency, 1 May 1597, Musée Condé, series, L. xxxii, fo. 315.

117 Henri's suggestions for Chantilly: Girard and Duplessis to Montmorency, 21 Mar. 1607, Musée Condė, series, L. lxxxvii, fo. 51. Henri wanted Montmorency's son for his daughter by Gabrielle d'Estrées and compelled the annulment of his marriage to an heiress in 1609. In the same year he arranged for Condé's marriage to Montmorency's fifteen-year-old daughter with the intention of enjoying her favours himself, Samaran, C., ‘Henri IV et Charlotte de Montmorency’, Amuaire-Bulletin de la Société de l'Histoire de France (1951), pp. 53–109Google Scholar.

118 Greengrass, , ‘Noble affinities’, pp. 276–7Google Scholar.