[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":36},["ShallowReactive",2],{"hreflang:/en/zoom/p7ch8z2-mayenne-and-the-sixteen-the-league-reorganises":3,"zoom:p7ch8z2:en":7},{"fr":4,"en":5,"es":6},"/zoom/p7ch8z2-mayenne-et-les-seize-la-ligue-se-reorganise","/en/zoom/p7ch8z2-mayenne-and-the-sixteen-the-league-reorganises","/es/zoom/p7ch8z2-mayenne-y-los-dieciseis-la-liga-se-reorganiza",{"period":8,"chapter":26,"zoom":29},{"id":9,"title":10,"titleEn":10,"titleEs":11,"range":12,"rangeEn":12,"rangeEs":12,"covers":13},"p7","Renaissance","Renacimiento","1461 → 1610",[14,17,20,23],{"filename":15,"url":16},"British_-_Field_of_the_Cloth_of_Gold_-_Google_Art_Project.jpg","https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:FilePath/British_-_Field_of_the_Cloth_of_Gold_-_Google_Art_Project.jpg?width=1600",{"filename":18,"url":19},"Marignan-1515-francois1er.jpg","https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:FilePath/Marignan-1515-francois1er.jpg?width=1600",{"filename":21,"url":22},"ChateauDeChambord.jpg","https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:FilePath/ChateauDeChambord.jpg?width=1600",{"filename":24,"url":25},"Henri_IV_Toschi_(format_original).jpg","https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:FilePath/Henri_IV_Toschi_(format_original).jpg?width=1600",{"id":27,"title":28},"p7ch8","Henri III: The Final Crisis of the Valois and the Wars of the League (1574-1589)",{"id":30,"title":31,"chapterId":27,"html":32,"hasEn":33,"isFallback":34,"seoDescription":35},"p7ch8z2","Mayenne and the Sixteen: The League Reorganises","\u003Cp>The assassination of Henri de Guise and his brother the cardinal, on 23 and 24 December 1588, might have permanently decapitated the Catholic League. Instead, within a few weeks, it gave itself a leadership and an administration capable of standing up to the crown for several more years.\u003C/p>\n\u003Chr>\n\u003Ch2>🏙️ The Council of Sixteen, Paris’s Underground Government\u003C/h2>\n\u003Cp>Well before the assassination of the Guises, a Parisian leadership core of the League had formed as early as 1585 at the Jacobin convent: initially reduced to five members responsible for directing the capital according to a division into five districts, this committee soon reverted to Paris’s traditional division into sixteen districts, each with its own head — hence the name \u003Cstrong>Council of Sixteen\u003C/strong> under which the organisation became notorious. After the assassination of the Guises, the Sixteen played a decisive part in the uprising of Paris: as early as 2 January 1589, rioters close to the movement destroyed the royal coat of arms across the city, and the committee extended its grip over municipal administration, purging the city’s institutions of elements deemed too moderate or favourable to the king. In March 1589, it further tightened its control by instituting, in each of the sixteen districts of Paris, a local council of nine members responsible for maintaining order and security — a tight network that long made Paris a virtually ungovernable city for the crown.\u003C/p>\n\u003Chr>\n\u003Ch2>🎖️ The Duke of Mayenne, New Head of the League\u003C/h2>\n\u003Cp>At the scale of the kingdom, leadership of the League fell naturally to \u003Cstrong>Charles de Lorraine, Duke of Mayenne\u003C/strong>, the younger brother of the two victims of Blois. After raising troops in Burgundy, of which he was governor, he reached Paris on 15 February 1589 and was there proclaimed head of the League and \u003Cstrong>lieutenant-general of the State and crown of France\u003C/strong> — a title that, in the absence of a League king actually reigning, made him the de facto executive authority of the Catholic party. Mayenne then organised a \u003Cstrong>Council of the General Union\u003C/strong>, bringing together delegates from the Parisian Sixteen and representatives of the three estates from the League provinces, over which he himself presided: a parallel government structure, capable of raising troops, collecting contributions, and coordinating the action of towns won over to the League across the whole kingdom. Less charismatic than his brother Henri, and more cautious too, Mayenne nonetheless managed, in the months following the assassination at Blois, to give the League a capacity for resistance that would prolong the civil war for several years after Henri III’s death.\u003C/p>\n\u003Chr>\n\u003Ch2>🧠 Key Takeaways\u003C/h2>\n\u003Cul>\n\u003Cli>The \u003Cstrong>Council of Sixteen\u003C/strong>, formed as early as 1585 at the Jacobin convent, structured Paris into sixteen autonomous districts and became the true underground government of the League-held capital\u003C/li>\n\u003Cli>After the assassination of the Guises, the Sixteen purge the Parisian administration and tighten their control district by district (March 1589)\u003C/li>\n\u003Cli>\u003Cstrong>15 February 1589\u003C/strong>: the Duke of Mayenne, younger brother of the assassinated Guises, reaches Paris and is proclaimed lieutenant-general of the State and crown of France\u003C/li>\n\u003Cli>Mayenne organises a Council of the General Union, a parallel government structure that will prolong the League’s resistance for several years after 1589\u003C/li>\n\u003C/ul>\n\u003Chr>\n\u003Cp>\u003Cstrong>Next zoom\u003C/strong>: The death of Henri III — agony and last wishes.\u003C/p>\n",true,false,"The assassination of Henri de Guise and his brother the cardinal, on 23 and 24 December 1588, might have permanently decapitated the Catholic League. Instead,",1786625738393]