Saint Bartholomew's Eve

Contents

Preface.
Chapter 1: Driven From Home.
Chapter 2: An Important Decision.
Chapter 3: In A French Chateau.
Chapter 4: An Experiment.
Chapter 5: Taking The Field.
Chapter 6: The Battle Of Saint Denis.
Chapter 7: A Rescue.
Chapter 8: The Third Huguenot War.
Chapter 9: An Important Mission.
Chapter 10: The Queen Of Navarre.
Chapter 11: Jeanne Of Navarre.
Chapter 12: An Escape From Prison.
Chapter 13: At Laville.
Chapter 14: The Assault On The Chateau.
Chapter 15: The Battle Of Jarnac.
Chapter 16: A Huguenot Prayer Meeting.
Chapter 17: The Battle Of Moncontor.
Chapter 18: A Visit Home.
Chapter 19: In A Net.
Chapter 20: The Tocsin.
Chapter 21: Escape.
Chapter 22: Reunited.


Chapter 1: Driven From Home.


In the year 1567 there were few towns in the southern counties of
England that did not contain a colony, more or less large, of
French Protestants. For thirty years the Huguenots had been exposed
to constant and cruel persecutions; many thousands had been
massacred by the soldiery, burned at the stake, or put to death
with dreadful tortures. Fifty thousand, it was calculated, had, in
spite of the most stringent measures of prevention, left their
homes and made their escape across the frontiers. These had settled
for the most part in the Protestant cantons of Switzerland, in
Holland, or England. As many of those who reached our shores were
but poorly provided with money, they naturally settled in or near
the ports of landing.

Canterbury was a place in which many of the unfortunate emigrants
found a home. Here one Gaspard Vaillant, his wife, and her sister,
who had landed in the year 1547, had established themselves. They
were among the first comers, but the French colony had grown,
gradually, until it numbered several hundreds. The Huguenots were
well liked in the town, being pitied for their misfortunes, and
admired for the courage with which they bore their losses; setting
to work, each man at his trade if he had one, or if not, taking to
the first work that came to hand. They were quiet and God-fearing
folk; very good towards each other, and to their poor countrymen on
their way from the coast to London, entertaining them to the best
of their power, and sending them forward on their way with letters
to the Huguenot committee in London, and with sufficient money in
their pockets to pay their expenses on the journey, and to maintain
them for a while until some employment could be found for them.