Note 216 — CCXXXII.—To Madame de Cany.[216]

Peronne de Pisseleu, wife of Michel de Barbançon, Seigneur de Cany, one of the personages of most importance in Picardy. This lady, instructed in the Reformed faith by Laurent de Normandie, lieutenant of the king at Noyon, and the friend of Calvin, had for a long time to endure the severity of her husband, who afterwards came at a later period to be a partaker of like faith.—Bèze, Hist. Eccl., tom. ii. p. 244.; De Thou, lib. xxv. Madame de Cany, sister of the Duchess d'Etampes, favourite of the late king, had possessed an unbounded influence at court, which she always used for generous purposes. Her ordinary residence was the Château de Varanues, situated on the Oise, near to Noyon.