CHARLES IX. was the second son of Henri IL, and succeeded to the throne on the death of his elder brother Francis II. in 1560, being then in his eleventh year. The government during his minority was administered by his mother Catherine de Medici, while Anthony of Bourbon, king of Navarre, had the title of lieutenant-general of the kingdom. The release of the Prince of Conde, brother of the King of Navarre, who had been imprisoned during the preceding reign, was one of the first acts of the new government: the prince had been looked up to as the leader of the Reformed or Huguenot party, to which the King of Navarre now also joined himself. Alarmed at the growing strength of the Calviuists, the Constable Montmorenci and the Duke of Guise, previously rivals and enemies, were reconciled, and formed, with the Marshal St. Andre, a union to which the Huguenots gave the name of the Triumvirate. Thus early in the king's reign did the parties seek to strengthen themselves, whose animosity and struggles deluged France with blood. A project suggested by the King of Navarre for the resumption by the crown of all the grants of the last two reigns, in which the members of the triumvirate had largely shared, had probably considerable influence in the formation of this union.
An edict prohibiting the public preaching of the reformed religion on pain of exile having been issued in 1561, the Huguenots refused obedience, and took up arms in defence of their liberty. Their chiefs demanded a public conference with the Catholics ; and the demand led to the celebrated 'colloquy of Poissy,' in which Theodora Beza defended the cause of the reformed, and the Cardinal of Lorraine that of the Catholic church, before the king, the princes of the blood, and a number of nobles and dignified ecclesiastics. The disputants remained, as might be supposed, unconverted ; but the conference served the King of Navarre as a pretext for abandoning the party of the reformed, and reconciling himself with the Guises. A promise of the restoration of Navarre proper, which had been conquered by Spain, was probably the lure that drew him over. But it was not by words that the differences of the parties were to be deoided dis turbances arose in the provinces; and the Queen Mother, jealous of the union of Navarre with the Guises, by which her own influence was diminished, sought to win the support of the Huguenots, by procuring an edict to be issued allowing them the exorcise of their religion out of the towns. The peace thus established was of short continuance; a quarrel between some domestics of the Duke of Guise, and a congregation of Protestants at Vassy in Champagne, led to the massacre of the latter, and became the signal for hostility. The
Protestants possessed the predominance In the south and west of France; they held Orleans, Blois, Tours, Angers, La Rochelle, Poitiers, Rouen, lievre-de-Grace, and Dieppe ; and they were supported by Elizabeth of England, and the Protestants of Germany. The Catholics had for them the king and the court, the regular army, the capital, the provinces of the uorth and east, the talent of the Guises, and the support of Philip II. of Spain. The first important event was the siege end capture of Rouen in 1562 by the Catholics, who lost their general, the king of Navarre, mortally wounded during the siege. The Prince of Conde, and the Admiral Coligni, with the Protestant Army, threatened the capital ; but being obliged to withdraw, were overtaken at Dreux, where they were defeated, and the prince was made prisoner. The Protestants had however early in the actiou captured the Constable Montmorenci, oommander of the Catholics, and the constable and the prince were soon after exchanged. The Marshal St. Andre, another member of the triumvirate, fell in this battle.
The following year (1563) was marked by the siege of Orleans, and the assassination of the Duke of Guise, commander of the besieging army, by Poltrot, a Protestant. The removal of the duko probably prepared the way for peace, which was concluded not long after his death. Havre, which had been placed by the Huguenots in the hands of the English, was taken from them in July of this gene by a French army under the Constable : and peace with England was subsequently made. In 1564 the king by an edict revoked some of the advantages which had been conceded to the iluguenote at tho peace ooncluded the foregoing year, and disgusted the Prince of Cond6, by refusing to fulfil a promise that he should be made lieutenant general of the kingdom in the place of his late brother, the King of Navarre. Thu court, strong in the support of an army, which had been raised to guard the frontier from any violation consequent upon the revolt of the Netherlands against Spain, excited the jealousy of the Protestant leaders; and Conde and Coligni attempted, in 1567, to carry off the king. This led to the second religious war, in which Catherine de' Medici was decidedly hostile to the Huguenots, whom previously she had been inclined to favour.