Editing Michel de l'Hôpital (section)

==Reign of François II==
===Finance===
With [[Charles, Cardinal of Lorraine|Cardinal Lorraine]] taking charge of the kingdoms finances on the death of Henri II, L'Hôpital served as his chief financial adviser. To salvage the kingdoms credit, he recommended to the Cardinal a radical program in which loans would be rescheduled, taxes raised and spending drastically cut. These policies were met with strong resistance in the provinces. In Normandie, a forced loan of 800,000 ''livres'' on the province went unpaid, even decades later the hardship induced by attempts to raise the funds was recalled by those in the province. Peasants fled their villages to avoid having to pay. The size of the army was slashed, but many soldiers were left in arrears over pay, and entered opposition to the regime.{{sfn|Carroll|2011|pp=103-104}}

===Chancellor===
During the discord that convulsed the kingdom with the [[Conspiracy of Amboise]] in early 1560, L'Hôpital was absent from the kingdom, returning to the court in May 1560 before receiving confirmation as chancellor the month after on 30 June 1560 with the support of the [[House of Guise|Guise]], Lorraine recommending him personally to the king for the post.{{sfn|Knecht|2010|p=26, 101}}{{sfn|Jouanna|1998|p=1039}}

===Assembly of notables===
{{main|1560 Assembly of Notables}}
In May 1560, L'Hôpital oversaw the passing of the first religious edict that moderated persecution, the [[Edict of Romorantin]].{{sfn|Holt|2020|p=139}} This edict had been formulated before his return to court.{{sfn|Knecht|2010|p=26}} Upon presenting it to ''Parlement'' the body resisted its registration, and he was forced to push it through, regardless it would remain unimplemented, and he later afforded the body a backtrack as regards their authority over illegal assemblies.{{sfn|Roelker|1996|p=241}} With the regime floundering in the aftershocks of Amboise, and with continued discord rocking the kingdom in the south, L'Hôpital was among those who pushed for the calling of an [[1560 Assembly of Notables|Assembly of Notables]], to examine a potential package of financial and religious measures.{{sfn|Shimizu|1970|p=39}} Only through financial, judicial and religious reform could the kingdom be saved, in L'Hôpital's estimation.{{sfn|Knecht|2016|p=8}}
L'Hôpital opened the Assembly with a speech to the assembled grandees. In it he characterised the kingdom as a sick man, with the package of reforms to represent a cure to the ailments that destabilised and weakened the country.{{sfn|Knecht|2016|p=9}}

The assembly soon found itself threatened with derailment by an altercation between [[Gaspard II de Coligny|Admiral Coligny]] and [[Charles, Cardinal of Lorraine|Cardinal Lorraine]] after the former brought forth a petition for Protestants to have temples in which to worship much to the latter's consternation. L'Hôpital took charge of the situation, bringing the conversation away back to financial matters.{{sfn|Thompson|1909|p=53}}

In July 1560 L'Hôpital promulgated a law reforming how inheritance worked for the children of second marriages. He issued several sumptuary laws in April 1561 and January 1563. He established a special jurisdiction in Paris for lawsuits between merchants. Expanding this to other towns while the court resided at Moulins in 1566. While staying at Moulins, an edict was also issued outlining the special circumstances by which the royal domain could be temporarily alienated, through the supervision of the ''Parlement'' and ''chambre des comptes''.{{sfn|Salmon|1975|p=155}}

In September 1560 L'Hôpital spoke before the Paris ''Parlement'', he informed them that daily new word was arriving at court of various seditions across the country. He held responsible for this 'those who use the cloak of religion', an understanding of his, in which the pretext of religion was used to camouflage other grievances.{{sfn|Roberts|2013|p=20}} The ''Parlement'' frustrated with him for his chastisements, retorted that the true cause of disorder in France was the presence of two Protestants among the great offices of state.{{sfn|Roelker|1996|p=243}}

===Condé===
[[Louis I, Prince of Condé|The Prince of Condé]] had failed to show up for the Assembly of Notables, along with his brother the only prince to do so. He was conscious that he was implicated in both the Conspiracy of Amboise and the later disorders in [[Lyon]]. The court was not however to be denied his presence and he was summoned to bring himself to the Estates General that was shortly to convene in December. Arriving at court he was promptly arrested, and a trial began on 13 November. Though he repeatedly attempted to derail the proceedings a verdict was at last reached, guilt of lèse majesté. Two judges however refused to sign the conclusion, L'Hôpital, and du Mortier. Condé would be released in December after the death of [[Francis II of France|François II]] made his imprisonment politically untenable.{{sfn|Knecht|2014|p=72}} L'Hôpital was responsible for calling the trial to a close.{{sfn|Roelker|1996|p=275}}