In Lieu of a Foreword....................... 5 Holy Throne and Holy Empire................. 11 Divided Europe....................... 19 A Mirage............................ 24 Humanists and Jesuits................... 33 He Who Holds Power, His Is the Faith........ 40 Bloody Mary.......................... 49 The Sack of Rome..................... 52 A Sinister Trinity...................... 58 The Ottoman Invasion................... 70 At the Walls of Vienna................... 76 The "Golden Age" of Persecutions............. 84 The Profane Alliance.................... 89 The Letter of Francis I.................. 94 The Shadow of El Escorial Over Europe....... 100 Act Two............................ 112 The Vindication of Catherine de Medicis....... 118 A Web of Conspiracies................... 135 One More Onslaught.................... 151 The Barricades of Henry Guise and the Mass of Henry of Navarre...................... 156 Decline and Fall....................... 176 Behind Ravaillac's Back.................. 219 The Astrologer........................ 224 A Breather Before the Thirty Years War....... 234 Cardinal Richelieu and Anne of Austria....... 242 Retribution.......................... 258 An Endless Epilogue.................... 264 From the Skies Down the Earth............ 280 The Roots and Fruits of Education.......... 292 "Revolutionary War" Advocated............ 301 The Motley Coalition................... 307 Antipodes that Resemble Each Other......... 318 A Penetrating Cynicism................... 332 Controversy over the Holy Alliance............ 338 The First Thirty Years................... 353 Struggle of the Worlds................... 372 |