The earliest account of the fatal blow which France re ceived at the battle of St Quintin, was carried to Rome by the courier whom Henry dispatched to recal the Duke of Guise. In vain the Pope remonstrated against the de parture of the French ; the orders sent to the Duke were peremptory, and admitted of neither modification nor de lay. Paul, therefore, was obliged to have recourse to the influence that he knew he possessed, from his character and situation over the mind of Philip, in order to avert the danger to which he was exposed ; and so well did he work on the superstition of the Spanish monarch, that, on his agreeing to renounce his league with Henry, Philip, on his part, stipulated that the Duke of Alva, the proud est man of his time, should repair in person to Rome, and after asking pardon of the Holy Father in his own name, and in that of his master, for having invaded the patrimony of the church, should receive absolution for that crime. On the very day on which the duke of Alva made this hu miliating submission to the Pope, the Duke of Guise left Rome on his return to France. here he was received as a protecting angel, and immediately appointed lieutenant general of the kingdom. The army which was placed under his command, was numerous and well appointed, reinforcements having arrived from Germany and Switzer land, and the new levies pouring in from different parts of France. The troops partook of their general's wish and determination to wipe off the disgrace, which their coun try had suffered from the defeat of St Quintin; but the Duke of Guise kept his plan a profound secret. He put his army in motion in the middle of winter, and at first menaced the frontier towns of Flanders ; thus, having de ceived the enemy by false marches, he suddenly laid siege to Calais. Triis place, for upwards of 200 years, had af forded the English an open passage into France. Not withstanding its importance in this point of view, and that it was the only town which the English retaine4 of their ancient and extensive territories in this kingdom, they usually withdrew almost the whole garrison at the end of autumn, and the ministers of Mary had greatly neglected the works. Some of them, indeed, were so confident as to say, that if Calais were attacked during the winter, they would undertake to defend it with their white rods. The Duke of Guise, aware of the badness of its fortifications, and the inadequacy of its garrison, suddenly invested it, drove the English from the forts which protected it, and in eight days made himself master of a place which Ed ward III. could not take in less time than 11 months. Henry, in order to secure this important conquest, expel led the English inhabitants, and enticed his own subjects to settle there, by granting them several important privi leges and immunities.
In the spring of 1558, the Duke of Guise advanced against Thionville, which capitulated after a siege of three weeks. In the mean time, the Marshal de Termes, who had been appointed governor of Calais, penetrated into Flanders, stormed Dunkirk, and advanced against Nieu port. While he was before this place, the Count of Eg mont approached to its relief. De Termes was not only inferior in numbers to his opponent, but he was also en cumbered with his spoils ; he therefore resolved to retreat, but the latter circumstance rendered his retreat slow and difficult. The Count of Egmont, on the contrary, pur sued, with very great activity, and overtook the French near Gravelines. De Termes finding a battle unavoida ')1e, prepared to defend himself with great courage. For some time, notwithstanding the great disparity of the forces, victory was doubtful ; till at last chance, on this, as on many other occasions, decided the fate of arms. A squadron of English vessels, which chanced to be off the coast, on hearing the cannon, entered the river Aa, and turned their guns upon the right wing of the French army, which were dispirited by this unexpected circumstance, while the Flemings were equally encouraged. The for mer fled in great disorder ; about 2000 were killed on the field of battle; a greater number in their flight were put to death by the peasantry ; and the general, with a num ber of officers or distinction, was taken prisoner. This disaster obliged the Duke of Guise to relinquish all his other schemes, and to hasten to the frontiers of Picardy, to oppose the progress of the enemy. About the same
time, the Duke of Savoy effected a junction with the troops under the Count pf Egmont. As soon as these junctions were respectively formed, Philip and Henry put themselves at the head of their armtei, r..i? 1, ontmanding. about 40,000 men ; and bring encamped at the distinct; of a very few leagues, an awful and decisive crisis seemed approaching. But both the monarchs were weary war ; it had answered the expectations of neither, while, for a century, it had exhausted their respective kingdoms. Philip was anxious to visit Spain ; and therefore was dis posed to listen to pacific overtures. The motives and ob jects which inclined Henry to meet the views of Philip were more complicated. Ile was eager to put a stop to the progress of heresy in France. His mistress, the Dutchess of Valentinois, had long regarded, with disgust and displeasure, the haughtiness of the Duke of Guise, and of his brother the Cardinal of Lorraine ; and, above all things, wished to oppose their measures, and diminish their influence and popularity. This she could not expect to accomplish, so long as the Duke had an opportunity of adding to his military fame. Peace, therefore, she was bent on bringing about ; and, by her persuasion, Mont morency, who was eager to regain his liberty, undertook the intricate and difficult negotiation, and the Abbey or Cercamp was fixed upon as the place of congress ; the conferences were afterwards removed to Chateau Cam bresis, where, in 1559, a definitive treaty was signed. By this treaty, France restored to the Duke of Savoy the ter ritories which she had taken from him in Piedmont, Savoy, and Bresse. Corsica was given up to the Genoese. Hes den, Catclet, and Noyon, were restored to the French, who were also suffered to retain Calais, Metz, Toul, and Ver dun. A separate treaty was, at the same time, signed be tween the King of France and Elizabeth, who now sate on the throne of England, by which the former engaged, at the expiration of eight years, either to deliver up Calais, or to forfeit the sum of 500,000 crowns.
In order to facilitate and hasten the conclusion of peace between Spain and France, the Constable .Montmorency negociated two treaties of marriage ; one between Eliza beth, the eldest daughter of Henry, and Philip ; the other between Margaret, Henry's eldest sister, and the Duke of Savoy. The part which Montmorency took in all these arrangements, gave him great weight with the king ; while, on the other hand, the family of the Guises, fully sensible that their influence was on the decline, and that, during a period of peace, they would possess no opportunity of com pensating for the diminution of this influence, by gaining military renown, and increasing their influence with the nation, arraigned the treaty in the most open and indecent manner, as dishonourable and disadvantageous to France. But Henry attended not to their complaints ; he was too much occupied, either with the Duchess of Valentinois, who continued to countenance and support Montmorency, or with taking measures for the suppression of heresy. Among the most illustrious proselytes to the doctrines of Calvin, was D'Andelot, the brother of Coligny, and the nephew of the Constable. So deeply impressed was he with the truth and importance of the opinions that he had embraced, that he dared to avow them in the presence of his sovereign. He was immediately deprived of his post of general of French infantry, committed to close confine ment, and restored to liberty only on submission, and through the entreaties of his uncle. So bigotted and blind was the zeal of this monarch, that he attempted a prosecu tion of the Duchess of Ferrara, daughter of Louis XII. who granted an asylum in her court to the literati, who were tinctured with heterodoxy ; ordered the judges to cause all to be arrested as heretics, who should solicit them in favour of those who were condemned to death on account of their religious opinions ; and denounced throughout the capital and the different provinces, his firm determination to root out heresy by the most severe and violent persecution.