Magdeline de Savoie
:
Soldiers.
Anne Duc de Montmorenci, who was prime minister and
great constable of France during the reigns of Francis I., Henry II.,
Francis II., and Charles IX., was very unwilling to take up arms against
the Prince of Conde and the Coligny's, to whom he was endeared by the ties
of friendship, as well as those of consanguinity. He was however induced to
give way by the following animated and forcible speech of his wife,
Magdeline de Savoie: "It is then in vain, sir, that you have taken as a
motto to your escutcheon, the word of command that your ancestors always
gave at the outset of every battle in which they were engaged (_Dieu aide
du premier Chretien_). If you do not fight with all your energy in defence
of that religion which is now attempted to be destroyed, who then is to
give an example of respect and of veneration for the Holy See, if not he
who takes his very name, his arms, his nobility, from the first baron of
France who professed the holy religion of Christ?"