Amboise, Conspiracy of

▪ French history

      abortive plot of young French Huguenot aristocrats in 1560 against the Catholic House of Guise.

      On the accession of the 14-year-old Francis II to the French throne in 1559, the Guise family gained ascendancy in the government, creating enmity among the smaller nobility. A conspiracy to overturn their government was formed at Nantes, with a needy Périgord nobleman named La Renaudie as its nominal head, though the agitation had in the first instance been fostered by the agents of Louis I de Bourbon, prince de Condé. The Guises were warned of the conspiracy while the court was at Blois, and for greater security they removed the King to Amboise. La Renaudie, however, merely postponed his plans, and the conspirators assembled in small parties in the woods around Amboise. They had, however, been again betrayed, and many of them were surrounded and captured before the coup could be delivered; on March 19, 1560, La Renaudie and the rest of the conspirators openly attacked the château of Amboise. They were repelled, La Renaudie was killed, and a large number were taken prisoners.

      The Guises exercised merciless vengeance. For a week the torturings, quarterings, and hangings went on, the bodies being cast into the Loire. The Guises further convened a special commission to try Condé, who was condemned to death; but the affair was postponed by the chancellor, and the death of Francis II in December saved Condé.

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