Catherine convinced her hesitant son, through reasoned argument but, more often, by the maternal domination she exerted over him, that the time to be rid of the Huguenots had arrived. She addressed him, with no small amount of exasperation,
“The Peace of Saint-Germain-en-Laye that you made with Jeanne, their Protestant Queen of Navarre, now two years past, has all but broken down. It was against my better judgment at the time to grant them authority in Cognac, Montauban, La Clarté and…what was the fourth town…ah, La Rochelle. How they enjoy the power of public office, but how they wield their influence, once more, over the religion they preach in their churches.”
Charles lowered his gaze, overawed by a mother who had endured a marriage to a king who spurned her for a mistress, disparaged
