That the murderer of Henry III was Jacques Clément, a Jacobin friar, is certain, although soon after the event some were inclined to doubt whether the miscreant were a Jacobin or no in spite of his habit. The extraordinary story ran that Clément was put up for the night by the Proctireur Général de la Guesle and there murdered in order to obtain his habit to disguise the real assassin, who was a soldier. It is not necessary to kill a man to obtain the habit of a religious and at that time the environs of Paris swarmed with every kind of Order. Again, why a Dominican? Was the Procureur Général especially anxious to make a case against that Order as well as to murder his King? In short the story is incredible in every way and could only have arisen owing to the fact that Clément was killed on the spot. De la Guesle called out that he was not to be injured, although he himself had knocked the assassin down, with a view, of course, for torture to discover who were behind him.

The facts are that Clément exhibited two passports, one of which was forged, when he came to St. Cloud saying that he was an escaped royalist with vital news for the King. Quite early in the morning the friar was introduced to Henry and dealt him a blow which proved fatal within twenty-four hours. By a strange fatality the King had only put on a chamois vest under the violet coat which he always wore, instead of the cuirasse which would be the usual dress during a campaign.