The Duke de Guise’s meeting with the Queen Mother, Catherine at Chenonceau, had granted him complete authority to lead his troops in the name of King Charles, to ‘arrange’ – her euphemism – towns she considered the Huguenots had too great an influence over, to the detriment of the Catholic population. In any event, she would distance herself from the duke’s operations, anxious to appear innocent in the public perception.
De Guise returned from her office to his imposing detached residence on the Rue Saint Antoine, in a fashionable quarter of Paris. He told his manservant to bring him food and wine in his study with further instructions that he was not to be disturbed for the rest of the day. He needed to give careful consideration to his plans, determined to live up to Catherine’s expecta
