"Being descended from the Kings of France, he became the heir to that
Kingdom; but as he was educated a Protestant, his claim was resisted.
He early distinguished himself by feats of arms. After the peace of
Saint Germain, in 1570, he was taken to the French Court, and two
years afterwards married Margaret, sister of Charles IX. (At the
rejoicings on this occasion the infamous massacre of _La Saint
Barthélémy_ took place.) In 1589 he succeeded to the throne of France;
but his religion proving an obstacle to his coronation, he consented
to abjure it in 1593. In 1598 he issued the edict of Nantes, granting
toleration to the Protestants".

Mezeray, speaking of the marriage of the King of Navarre (afterwards
Henry IV.) with Margaret de Valois, says, "There were many diversions,
tournaments, and ballets at Court; and amongst others, one which
seemed to presage the calamity that was so near bursting out upon the
Huguenots--the King and his brothers defending Paradise against the
King of Navarre and his brothers, who were repulsed and banished to
Hell;" and Sainte Foix, in his relation of the horrible massacre,
gives a detail, which in the present age appears almost incredible.

Catherine of Medicis, whose abominable politics had corrupted the
disposition of her son, was at the head of the cabinet council who
agreed to the murder of more than one hundred thousand Protestants;
and the miserable bigot Charles IX. stationed during the massacre at
the window of a house then belonging to the Constable of Bourbon,
fired with his own hands upon the Huguenots with a long blunderbuss,
whilst they were trying to escape across the river.

The River Erdré runs northward of the city, and forms a beautiful
feature, winding for many miles among cultivated fields and woodlands,