In 1534, the Duke of Guise, as the general of the League, took the field ; and though his army scarcely ex ceeded 5000 men, lie gained possession of Verdun, but he was repulsed from Metz by the Duke D'Epernon. It Henry had taken advantage of this, he might have re-es tablished his power ; but he was no longer capable of any great or arduous enterprise, and he concluded a peace on the most dishonourable terms ; agreeing to compel the Protestants to restore the cautionary towns, to annul all the edicts in their favour, and to join the League with all his forces. He thus virtually resigned his sovereign au thority into the hands of the Duke of Guise, who nomi nated a council of 16 citizens for the government of the capital, and intimated to them his wish that they should take measures for dethroning their sovereign, and bestow ing the crown on himself. In pursuance of this design, the inhabitants of Paris presented a memorial, in which they required the King to declare openly for the League, —to revive the Council of Trent,—to establish the inquisi tion, and to extirpate heresy : so low were the power and the firmness of mind of Henry sunk, that he promised to take this memorial into consideration.
In 1588, the Duke of Guise had the audacity, contrary to the express commands of his sovereign, to enter the city of Paris amidst the loud and universal acclamations of the citizens, and demanded an audience of him. To this, however, Henry would not consent ; his timid spirit was at length roused ; he declared that the death of the Duke of Guise should be the consequence of his forcing this in terview. Catherine now interposed her authority, and even her tears ; but in vain. Henry remained inflexible, till at length the Duke, afraid that he had passed even the limits of the king's pussillanimity, and sensible of his danger, en deavoured to disarm the royal rage by submission. He was permitted to retire; but his soul breathed indignation and re venge, and he instantly prepared for the most decisive and determined measures. Henry, at this juncture, had given orders for 6000 of the troops, on whose fidelity he could place the utmost reliance, to enter Paris : the citizens took the alarm ; they were conscious of the punishment which they deserved for their insolent behaviour to their sove reign ; they flew to arms ; the capital became the scene of the greatest confusion and alarm ; the soldiers were sur rounded and overcome. Catherine now saw, that if she (lid not interfere, the life of her son would probably be sacrificed ; she therefore entered into a private negociation with the Duke, while Henry quitted the palace, and effect ed his escape through the gardens of the Thuilleries. It is said that when he was safe, turning back to look at his capital, lie declared that he would never enter it again ex cept through a breach in its walls.
From Paris the king retired to Chartres, whence lie ap pealed to the loyalty and duty of his subjects. His peals were answered by the manifestoes of the Duke of Guise ; but, in the midst of these mutual accusations, the efforts and intrigues of Catherine were directed to an ac commodation, which she could not expect would be sin cere or lasting on either side, but from which she hoped to derive advantages to her own cause. A treaty was ac cordingly entered into between the King and his rebellious subjects, according to which the Duke of Guise was ap pointed lieutenant-general of the French armies; the Cardi nal of Bourbon was declared first prince of the blood ; and the severest penalties were denounced against those who had presumed to leave the ancient and established religion of the country. From these terms, it is evident, that the Duke of Guise had obtained all he could wish, or had taken up arms for. lie was confirmed in the chief com mand of the army, and the King of Navarre was excluded from the throne Henry was soon made sensible of the ignominious conditions to which, by the advice of his mo ther, he had consented ; and he breathed vengeance against the Duke, while he excluded Catherine from his councils. In this dilemma, he had recourse to a most bold and unex pected measure, which indicated a greater portion of de cision and policy than it was supposed he possessed. He assembled the states at Blois ; and though the greatest number of those who met were the partisans of the League, he boldly made his appeal to them, dwelling in the most animated and forcible manner on the distress into which he had been brought by the seditious conduct of the house of Lorraine. Had his future conduct corresponded with his behaviour before the states, he probably would have roused the latent loyalty of his subjects ; but, on the remonstrances of the Duke of Guise, he softened the most obnoxious passages of his address before it was circulated through the kingdom.
Soon after this, having received intelligence that the Duke had held a secret and treasonable correspondence with the Duke of Savoy, he came to the determination to get rid of him, if possible, by assassination ; he according ly summoned the few friends in whom he could place con fidence, or from whom he could expect the perpetration of this deed. Most of these advising the King to pursue the measure which he had suggested, Grillon, who command ed the royal guards, was first applied to, to strike the blow ; but he replied, that he was not an executioner ; " I will challenge the Duke, and endeavour to kill him fairly." Loigniac, the first gentleman of his bed-chamber, was next applied to, and he readily accepted the commission, along with a select number of Gaseous.