Note 861 — PREFATIO. (continued 2)

A reference to the History of France will explain Knox's allusion to the treacherous conduct of Henry the Second, in the arrestment and execution of two of his councillors who had avowed their attachment to the Protestant faith. The death of the French King, which followed almost immediately after, was occasioned in a tournament held in honour of the marriage of his daughter with the King of Spain. In jousting with the Count de Montgomery, a splinter of his lance inflicted a deep wound over the King's left eye, and after lingering for twelve days, he expired on the 10th July 1559. His son the Dauphin, and husband of Mary Queen of Scots, was only sixteen years of age when he succeeded to the throne, under the name of Francis the Second.