Protestant Exiles from France/Book First - Chapter 3 - Section II
II. The Vidame of Chartres.
Jean de Ferrières, Seigneur de Maligny, was the son of Francois (or Jean?) de Ferrières and Louise de Vendôme. Through his maternal ancestry, he was cousin and heir of Francois Vendôme, Vidame of Chartres.
The Bishopric of Chartres was a seigneurie, of which the proprietor was the Bishop. It was thus a temporal lordship, of which, in ordinary circumstances, the Lord or Prince would be the civil and criminal judge. Such functions, however, being unsuitable for an ecclesiastical person, his lordship’s courts were held for him by a vice-gerent or vice-lord, called in Latin Vice-Dominus, and in French Le Vidame. In many such bishoprics the Vidame was appointed by the Bishop, and was removable by him; but in some, the office of Vidame was hereditary; the designation of the office was virtually a title of nobility, and thus the Vidames of Chartres were Protestants.
The English were familiar with the title of the Vidame of Chartres. The Vidame Francois Vendôme, was one of the French hostages for the full payment to England of 400,000 crowns of gold (value 6s. 8d. each), being the price of the restitution of Boulogne to France in 1551. He is often mentioned in the diary of King Edward VI. (transcribed by Bishop Burnet into his “History of the English Reformation”). He died on 16th December 1560, and was succeeded by the subject of this memoir.
The Vidame Jean de Ferrieres served in all the civil wars in France under Conde and Coligny. He was renowned for valour and energy, as was his wife Francoise, widow of Charles Chabot, Sieur de Sainte-Fry, daughter of Francois Joubert, Sieur de Launeroy, by Perronnelle Carré. Archbishop Parker, having occasion to address him in Latin, styled him clarissimus heros. At the same time, not knowing what a Vidame could possibly be, he translated Vidame of Chartres into “Vidamius Carnutensis.”[1]
The Vidame of Chartres came in 1562 as an envoy from the Huguenots, and Queen Elizabeth entered into a treaty, giving them 6000 infantry and 100,000 crowns “to prevent Normandy from falling into the hands of the Guises, lest they should seize its ports and carry their exterminating war against Protestants into England.” She had no quarrel with the French King himself, who was a minor; and she refused his ambassador’s request to deliver up the Vidame to him as a traitor. In our State-Paper Office, there is a warrant to the Receiver-General of the Court of Warde, to pay £300 quarterly to the Vidame of Chartres, dated Strand, 11th November 1562.
In 1569 he again came to England as a resident ambassador from the French Protestants. He was reputed to be “a great nobleman of France, and of chief account among the Protestants — a learned and very good man” (Strype). On 3d August 1569, Bishop Grindal wrote to Cecil that he had obtained for the Vidame the use of the Bishop of Ely’s house in Holborn till Michaelmas. On 4th January 1570, the Queen wrote to the Farmers of Customs “to permit the Vidame de Chartres to receive certain wines for his own use, duty free.”
We now come to Paris in the black autumn of 1572. The great Coligny has been wounded by a ruffian in a street, and Charles IX. has paid him a visit of pretended condolence. Two quotations will give information regarding the Vidame. The first quotation is from De Thou’s famous History:—
“The nobles of the Protestant party took counsel together. John de Ferriers, Vidame of Chartres (in the presence of Navarre and Condé), conjecturing what was indeed the matter, and that this tragedy was begun with the wound of Coligny, but would end in the blood of them all — therefore he thought it most safe that without delay they should depart the city. He produced testimonies and tokens for his opinion from the rumours that were spread abroad. For it was heard by many, when upon the marriage day the Protestants went out of the church that they might not engage in worship, the Papists said by way of mirth, that within a few days they should hear mass. Also it was openly spoke in discourse by the chief of the city, that at that marriage should be poured out more blood than wine — that one of the Protestant nobles was advised by the President of the Senate that he should with all his family betake himself for some days into the country; also that John Montluc, Bishop of Valence, before going ambassador into Poland, counselled Rochefoucauld that he should not suffer himself to be intoxicated and turned about by the smoke and unwonted favour of the court, that he should not be too secure to run himself into danger, and that he should timeously withdraw himself, together with other nobles, from the court.”
“The escape of a large body of Huguenot nobility from the toils spread around them on this day of St. Bartholomew [1572] is so remarkable as to appear plainly to the attentive and judicious observer a providential event. This body, by the advice of the Vidame of Chartres, would not lodge near the Admiral’s quarters, which they suspected to be dangerous, but preferred as much safer the suburbs of St. Germain. However, although they retired to this quarter, expressly out of just diffidence of Charles and his perfidious Court, and from a dread of their treachery and cruelty, yet as soon as ever the confused noise of the massacre in the city arose, they seemed from that moment utterly infatuated and quite unable to guess at its cause. Nay, even when the Viscount Montgomery communicated the news which he had received concerning this tumult to the Vidame of Chartres, and a council of all the nobles was hereupon convened, yet, contrary to all probability, and even to common sense, the result of their consultation was, that this insurrection of the Guisian party was not only without, but even against, the King’s will, and that it would be a becoming act of loyalty to sally forth in a body and assist their sovereign in defence of his just authority. How little did Charles deserve these generous resolves! Maurignon, who was appointed to butcher these nobles, was now, in consequence of his orders, in the suburbs, and waiting impatiently for succours which Marcel was ordered to send him from the city. And during some hours their execution was (humanly speaking) very easy, nay, almost inevitable. But lo! the providence of God, which, having suffered these nobles to advance to the very brink of ruin, now snatched them thence by an Almighty hand in a manner, as it were, visible to the eyes of men. Marcel was dilatory in carrying his part of the orders into execution; the designed assassins dispersed to plunder; Maurignon was impatient for the arrival of his associates; at length the Duke of Guise resolved to head a body of the guards, and himself to perform the horrid butchery. He advanced to the gate of the suburbs; behold, strange mistake! — wrong keys were brought; the right keys were to be sought for; much time was lost; the morning appeared, and discovered to the too loyal Huguenot nobility a detachment of guards crossing the river in boats, the Duke of Guise himself being at their head; and they heard a firing from the windows of the palace, which was now understood to be, by royal command, against the Huguenots — for, as Guise was commanding the guards, they must be supposed to be acting against his adversaries. These nobles, struck dumb with astonishment, soon recovered the use of their faculties so far as to resolve on instant flight as their only security, and they exerted themselves so effectually as to escape the Duke of Guise’s pursuit, sailed to England, and raised their swords in many a future day of fair battle, and obtained victories against a perfidious tyrant who, by firing on his unarmed innocent subjects, in the hour of peace and of generous confidence in his solemn oaths, had forfeited all the rights of sovereignty and even of common humanity.”
It appears from the Vidame’s own statement that the Duke of Guise actually entered his house before he could escape, but that he concealed himself, and at length secretly got access to the King, who gave him a safe conduct. Instead of being again duped, and going home to be murdered, as the King intended, he used the royal autograph as a passport to the coast of France, and sailed to England, where he landed on the 7th September. He wrote a Latin letter to Lord Burghley (Strype’s Parker, Appendix No. 70), of which the following is a translation:—
“My most honoured Lord, — I have been delivered from the Parisian executions, and have slipped out of the hands of Guise, who first pursued me into my very house, and afterwards wove every kind of snare around me. At length, when they thought me inveigled by the King’s safeguard, and it was reported to them that I was at home, they hasten to assault me with open violence. But God, by His favour, has infatuated their counsel, and brought me to the sea unknown to myself; and having embarked on board ship, He has led me hither to you. Nothing, next to the avenging of this impious crime, is so desired by me as to come into the presence of her Majesty, on whose piety, power, and prudent counsel, evidently depends the only hope of curbing that fury so openly spreading in the Christian world. However much I may be carried away by my great desire, I have been unwilling to approach the Queen inopportunely and indiscreetly. I shall wait her Majesty’s resolution. In the meantime I shall inform my family how happily God has provided for my safety. I shall write to the King (although I shudder intensely at the thought of him) that, if I can, I may soothe his savage heart, that he may not proceed to more cruel measures against my wife on account of what may appear to him my contempt of his promise to me as to my safety — a promise not free from subtlety and remarkable imposture — yet the blame of such contempt I must fling back upon another. May God give counsel, who has already given succour, and has brought me to a safe port. Beyond measure I desire to see and hear for myself how your people are affected by such an unheard-of calamity. Meanwhile I ask your Lordship to recall to her Majesty’s memory my most humble devotion to her, of which the future shall witness the continuance. You, my Lord, will be the medium of great consolation to me if I may understand from you that her Majesty sympathises with us, and does so abhor such great perfidy that her soul cannot bear any outward dissimulation regarding it. Not that I doubt that herself shudders at the mere thought of it. But I fear that by using too mild language concerning it she may contribute new life to the butchers, who may affect not to hear the mutterings of neighbouring princes. I wish, and I believe it will be realised, that the princes will show themselves to be the persons they ought to be. Not the least punishment that these butchers can feel will be the fear of future vengeance. Do not believe that they can be rendered tractable by smooth oratory; they will be ever more and more insolent if they are gently dealt with. I avow that the national sentiment concerning them should be disclosed not by words alone but by action, that they may see that there is not merely an expenditure of words but an alliance of hearts for impending action. I pray that God give to you, who are in no lack of counsel, that mind that knows how to reap the fruit of consultation, and that He may preserve you, my Lord, long to be the counsellor of your realm. — Your Lordship’s most faithful and affectionate.
“September 1572.”
The Queen showed the most marked compassion for her old friend, the Vidame. In the beginning of November several servants of his household landed at Rye. It is said, however, that he hastened to join the remarkable Huguenot rally, and succeeded in entering La Rochelle and placing himself under the command of La Noue. (There is a French memoir of the Vidame de Chartres by the Comte de la Ferrière-Percy, but I have failed to obtain a copy.)
- ↑ Bishop Grindal wrote of him as “Monsieur Vidame.” French Protestant writers often call him “The Vidame,” as if he had been the only hereditary Vidame.
But Francois d’Ailly, Vidame of Amiens, was a refugee who died in London in 1561. His brother Louis succeeded him. In 1567 Louis, and another brother Charles, were killed at the battle of St Denis. Then Charles’ son, Philibert Emmanuel d’Ailly, succeeded as Seigneur de Pequigny and Vidame d’Amiens. This last-named Vidame relapsed into Romanism, although he did not desert Henri IV. Marguerite d’Ailly, his sister, was married in 1581 to Francois de Coligny, Signeur de Chatillon, fourth son of the martyred Admiral. The Marquis de Ruvigny was connected by marriage with the family of Ailly de La Mairie.