Free Sir Francis Walsingham by Derek Wilson Page A

‘Antichrist’ would not have been pursued so vigorously but, in the person of the new Pontiff, Pius V (1566–1572), the Tridentine church found a champion of an awesome personal piety and chilling reforming zeal. Born Antonio Ghislieri, this puritanical cleric was for many years the Grand Inquisitor and was dedicated to purging the church of impropriety, corruption and error. As pope he enjoyed unlimited authority to intensify his regime of purging the church and extending the war against heresy. It was not only libertines and publishers of unauthorized books who lived in fear of Pius’s informers, agents and enforcers. There was no limit to this zealot’s range of activity. It extended from the expelling of prostitutes from Rome and the forbidding of bull-fighting to anathematizing princes who showed leniency to Protestants and the funding of religion-inspired rebellion. On 23 February 1570, this Roman ayatollah issued the papal bull
Regnans in excelsis
against Queen Elizabeth:
    We declare the aforesaid Elizabeth to be a heretic and abettor of heretics and we declare her and her supporters to have incurred the sentence of excommunication . . . we declare her to be deprived of her pretended claim to the aforesaid kingdom and of all lordship, dignity and privilege whatsoever. Also, we declare that the lords, subjects and peoples of the said kingdom and all others who havesworn allegiance to her are perpetually absolved from any oath of fidelity and obedience. Consequently, we absolve them and we deprive the same Elizabeth of her pretended claim to the kingdom . . . And we command and forbid her lords, subjects and peoples to obey her . . . we shall bind those who do the contrary with a similar sentence of excommunication.
    In Paris papal directives received mixed responses. It was all very well for the head of the church to order unyielding opposition to Protestants but attempts to take a firm line destabilized the nation and, in fact, plunged it into civil war. Partly as a result of Calvinist missionary activity, the number of Protestants in France had, over the decade 1552–62, grown from almost zero to around two million. In over a thousand locations men and women deserted the mass to engage in vernacular worship and express their belief in the singing of metrical psalms. Moreover, the new faith had attracted adherents from all sections of society, so that little Huguenot congregations enjoyed the protection of city corporations and powerful aristocrats. Supporters of the Reformed faith could be found in the parlement of Paris and, more importantly, among the intimate advisers of the king. Since other prominent courtiers were devoted to the Catholic cause the potential existed for religious rivalry at the highest level of French life. Within months of Elizabeth’s accession France, too, experienced a change of ruler. King Henry II was killed in a tournament accident and was succeeded by his fifteen-year-old son Francis II. Within eighteen months Francis was also dead from an ear infection. The crown now passed to a younger brother who, at the age of eleven, became Charles IX of France. Real power lay in the hands of the boy’s mother, Catherine de Medici. But the rule of a minor inevitably encouraged faction-feuding at court and Catherine found herself having to perform a balancing act between the Catholic Guise party and the house of Bourbon, the champions of the Huguenots.
    Catherine’s recipe for keeping the peace was to allow limited toleration to the Protestant minority. By the Edict of Saint-Germain Huguenots were not allowed to worship in towns but might assemble in the open countryside during the hours of daylight. Catherine’sattitude was extremely liberal by the standards of the time. For example, English Catholics did not enjoy the same freedom. However, such pragmatism could not satisfy religious partisans of either colour. As one Catholic spokesman stated:
    religion is the primary and principal