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The Protestants used the influence of their English co-religionists headed by the Virgin Queen Elizabeth. The Catholic Guise party turned to Spain. By the late 1580's things came a head. In 1587, Elizabeth I of England beheaded Mary Stewart, a Guise and former Queen of France (widow of Henri III's older brother François II). The Guise had great hope in the mission of the Invincible Spanish Armada, which failed against Elizabeth in 1588. The passions of the Guise clan grew to new levels of furor. Rumors spread that they were about to bring the Inquisition to France. Finally, in December 1588 in this very room Henri called the Duke of Guise to personal council. As the Duke entered the royal chambers he quickly realized something was amiss. Henri's royal body guards, the legendary Forty-Five (also a novel by Alexandre Dumas) were upon him. The nation was in shock, but Henri had decided on peace with all parties. The Protestants would not be excluded from the nation. |
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This page last updated on 6/26/2001 2:10:29 PM.