Note 612 — Chapter I · SUMMARY.

The elder Cardinal of Lorraine, Jean, brother of Claud, Duke de Guise, commenced this most evil family practice. An unexampled number of the abbeys and dignities of the Church being centered in his own person, the Benedictine historian slyly observes, “that the mere calling over the roll of his titles seemed like summoning together a great council of the Church, although, to the shame and woe of that Church, one rich and powerful man answered to every designation.” A clear idea of this worldly rapacity of the cadets of Guise casts light on the difficulties the female sovereigns of their house had to stem, and on their motives as ultra-partisans of their Church.—L’Art de Vérifier les Dates.