Henri de Rohan was at this time about forty years of age, in the prime of
life. In his youth, in order to perfect his education, he had visited
England, Scotland, and Italy. In England Elizabeth had called him her
knight; in Scotland James VI had asked him to stand godfather to his son,
afterwards Charles I; in Italy he had been so deep in the confidence of
the leaders of men, and so thoroughly initiated into the politics of the
principal cities, that it was commonly said that, after Machiavel, he was
the greatest authority in these matters. He had returned to France in
the lifetime of Henry IV, and had married the daughter of Sully, and
after Henri's death had commanded the Swiss and the Grison regiments--at
the siege of Juliers. This was the man whom the king was so imprudent as
to offend by refusing him the reversion of the office of governor of
Poitou, which was then held by Sully, his father-in-law. In order to
revenge himself for the neglect he met with at court, as he states in his
Memoires with military ingenuousness, he espoused the cause of Conde with
all his heart, being also drawn in this direction by his liking for
Conde's brother and his consequent desire to help those of Conde's
religion.

From this day on street disturbances and angry disputes assumed another
aspect: they took in a larger area and were not so readily appeased. It
was no longer an isolated band of insurgents which roused a city, but
rather a conflagration which spread over the whole South, and a general
uprising which was almost a civil war.

This state of things lasted for seven or eight years, and during this
time Rohan, abandoned by Chatillon and La Force, who received as the
reward of their defection the field marshal's baton, pressed by Conde,
his old friend, and by Montmorency, his consistent rival, performed