The Amboise conspiracy, also called Tumult of Amboise, was a failed attempt by a Huguenot faction in France to gain control over the young King Francis II and to reverse the policies of the current administration of Francis, Duke of Guise and Charles, Cardinal of Lorraine through their arrest, and potentially execution. It came to a head in 1560. Malcontent factions of Huguenots had been chafing under the French crown since the reign of Henry II and with the arrival of a new young king in 1559, saw their chance to take power for themselves. However the plot was uncovered ahead of time, and the Guise were ready for them. As such hundreds would be arrested, and many killed. Louis I, Prince of Condé was suspected of involvement, however he was able to flee south, and it was only after some months that the Guise were able to put him on trial. Shortly thereafter, the sickly Francis II died, their hold on the administration collapsed, and with it the conviction of Condé. This tumult would be one of the key steps in the collapse of crown authority that led to the first French War of Religion.
Background
Death of the king
On 10 July 1559, after a jousting accident, Henry II of France died suddenly. Premature as his death was, the crown fell to his young son, Francis II, who was only 15 years old, but legally of age to rule. Francis' wife's maternal uncles, Francis, Duke of Guise and Charles, Cardinal of Lorraine moved into the power vacuum, taking control over the young and sickly king's administration. They were faced with a formidable crisis; France was 40 million livres in debt, of which 19 million was owed immediately as a result of the Italian Wars. Many royal officials had been without pay for years.
Religious policy
To solve these twin problems, the Guise set upon a course of religious political continuity, and fiscal cost cutting. The former embodied in four laws in the latter half of 1559, with landlords to be prosecuted if they harboured heretics and meeting houses to be razed to the ground among other provisions. Raids were conducted of suspected Protestant homes, and in Paris these found pamphlets, lambasting the Guise. The backlash to these policies, and the increasing militancy of some Protestants troubled the Guise, who issued new laws, banning the wearing of masks, and long coats that might conceal pistols.
Financial policy
On the financial side the Guise made equally many enemies, the army was drastically scaled down in size, and payments to troops were deferred, upsetting many soldiers. Some came to the royal residence to voice their displeasure, and were threatened by Lorraine with hanging if they didn't vacate the premises.
Faction and conspiracy
Factions form
No sooner had Henry II died than malcontent factions began to form against the new Guise led government. Those opposed to the Guise sought for Antoine of Navarre to become regent of the kingdom, conscious of his flirtations with Protestantism in the late 1550s. This was despite Francis II being of legal age to rule. This faction further desired the calling of an Estates General, to solve many of what they perceived as the kingdom's ills in the past decades.
Conspiracy established
Around August 1559 a plan began to consolidate for the coup plot, aiming at first to assert Navarre's right to a regency, and, when he proved uninterested, Condé's more dubious right as a minor prince of the blood. La Renaudie was tasked to lead this coup attempt. La Renaudie boasted that he had the support of John Calvin in Geneva and was given an angry reception when he visited the city hunting for recruits late in the year.
The large part of the ideological support base for the coup came from petit seigneurs such as de Mauvans and Protestant clerics, such as Antoine de la Roche Chandieu. The church of Provence was the only consistory to be fully onboard, the region, one of great Protestant strength, offering 2000 soldiers to the cause of the coup. The location was chosen to coincide with the meeting of the nearby Parlement, to explain the conspirators' presence in the area.
Conspiracy exposed
On 12 February, the court left the Château de Marchenoir, where Léonor d'Orléans, duc de Longueville had been entertaining the young Francis with hunting and other pursuits, and began the journey to Amboise. On the route they were overtaken by the Duke's secretary Millet, who had with him a lawyer named . A further 25 conspirators were picked up while they were walking outside the Château de Noizay a small distance from Amboise castle, and the whole group were taken in to the fortress. Most of the captured men would however be released, after a stern rebuke from Chancellor François Olivier, once it was determined they had largely joined the conspiracy over oaths of loyalty or lack of pay. They conducted further arrests during the day, with some of their targets retreating into houses to continue fighting and having to be burned out. With the arrest parties mopping up stragglers, all relevant bailiffs and seneschals were granted authority to arrest those found in the countryside around Amboise.
Aftermath
Immediate consequences
thumb|360px|Contemporary woodcut of the executions at [[Amboise]]With most of the conspiracy's leadership captured or killed in the field, the Guise set about interrogating the prisoners they had caught, and examining the papers they had captured from the various raided châteaux. The number of executions that followed has been reported to be as high as 1500, though this appears to be an exaggeration. The duke of Guise, aware that for the moment he lacked proof, consoled Condé that he had no suspicions, and in an audience with the King and Queen Mother they accepted his denials, although Lorraine could not help but avoid eye contact. The general pardon established during the conspiracy itself made a distinction between those of religious motivation and those of political motivation, with the former to be tolerated as long as they lived in obedience to the King, and the latter to be treated as enemies of the state. A further shift came next month with the Edict of Romorantin, which transferred heresy cases to ecclesiastical courts that lacked the authority to give the death penalty, effectively ending capital punishment for heresy in France. In Montauban, several churches were seized and modified in a Calvinist manner. The house was full of Protestant soldiers who fought their way out of the building before fleeing the town. John Calvin's letters to Maligny in Lyon confirmed Menard's testimony; Calvin referred to Maligny as "our hotspur."
The narrow foiling of this Lyon plot further angered Guise and Lorraine, who had suspected Condé and Navarre's involvement in the affair — a matter seemingly confirmed when an agent sent by Condé was captured with papers implicating him. They called an Assembly of Notables to discuss reforms for the kingdom, and agreed upon a package to present to a planned Estates General.
Arrest, trial and release of Condé
No longer able to tolerate this treason, Condé was summoned to join the soon to be convened Estates General of 1560-1. Thoroughly outnumbered by the troops under the Guises and Philip II, they had little choice but to attend. Eventually, though, the trial would proceed, and he would be found guilty, with an indeterminate sentence, likely at the Château de Loches. However, his imprisonment was to be short. Not long after, Francis II, who had always been of fragile health, suffered an ear infection brought about by the cold, and he died on December 5, 1560. Subsequently he was released on 20 December.