The times were extraordinary and beyond control. France split apart. One faction, centered in the great cities, was fanatically pro-Vatican and led by the duke of Guise. Another represented the Hugenots led by Henry of Bourbon, king of Navarre. Persons caught in the middle were placed in the unenviable position of hoping the transvestite King Henry III would live forever.

---Otto Scott, James I: The Fool as King