The excesses of the League, opposed to the accession of Henri IV., surpassed the calamities of the religious wars.

License was so universal that no one was surprised to see a great lord kill his enemy in open day.

When a military expedition, having a private object, was led in the name of the King or of the League, one or other of these parties applauded it.

It was thus that Blagny, a soldier, came near becoming a sovereign prince at the gates of France.

Sometime before Henri III.'s death, a court lady murdered a nobleman who made offensive remarks about her.