religious council to reconcile the two faiths. Later that year, in an assembly of notables at Fontainebleau, the Moyenneur faction aimed to put forward a program of Gallican reforms to quell the abuses of the Catholic church that had angered the Protestants, allowing the faiths to reunify. This attempt would prove naïve, as the Protestant Louis, Prince of Condé came forward with a counterproposal for the two faiths to exist alongside one another, throwing the meeting into disarray. The assembly was however able to endorse plans for a national council to solve the religious question, endorsed in a royal edict on August 31, 1560. On June 12, 1561, the decision was made to summon the national council on July 20. It would however be delayed and not open until September 9. The meeting which became known as the Colloquy of Poissy would be a failure, with the Calvinists under Theodore Beza unwilling to subscribe to the Confession of Augsburg proposed by Lorraine. Frustrated with the failures of the colloquy, Catherine appealed to Rome instead for doctrinal concessions regarding the taking of the Eucharist in both kinds. This too came to nought. Unfazed by all this failure, Catherine arranged for carefully chosen moderate deputies from the various Parlements of France to attend a conference at Saint-Germain-en-Laye where they would eventually draw up the edict on January 17, 1562. Alongside two liberal representatives of each Parlement, members of the conseil privé and order of St Michael were invited. The Paris Parlement sent the famous liberal de Thou and the elderly cleric Viole. While the Guises and the Constable boycotted the event, Cardinal Bourbon and Tournon would attend, alongside François de Montmorency and the triumvir Saint André. The proceedings were led by Michel de l'Hôpital who tackled the subject of religion head on with the assembly, in contrast to prior laws where the notion of public order had been emphasised. The edict written, it would be delivered to the Paris Parlement on January 23. Terms of the edict Introduction The edict was intended to be only a provisional solution to the religious problem, pending the hopefully reconciliatory outcome of the general church Council of Trent. The edict made clear that it was not to be taken as approval of the 'new religion' but a necessary expedient for as long as the king willed it. The king stated that he had come to see