1625-28
Death of James I.--The Princesse Henriette is married by
proxy to Charles I.--The Duke of Buckingham arrives in France
to conduct his young sovereign to her new country--An arrogant
suitor--Departure of the English Queen--Indisposition of Marie
de Medicis--Arrival of Henriette in London--Growing power of
Richelieu--Suspicions of the Queen-mother--Influence of the
Jesuit Bérulle over Marie de Medicis--Richelieu urges Monsieur
to conclude his marriage with Mademoiselle de Montpensier--Character
of Gaston--He refuses to accept the hand of the lady--Arrest of M.
d'Ornano--Vengeance of Richelieu--Indignation of Monsieur--Alarm of the
Queen-mother--Pusillanimity of Gaston--Arrest of the Vendôme
Princes--Edicts issued against the great nobles--Sumptuary
laws--Execution of the Comte de Bouteville--The reign of
Richelieu--Policy of Marie and her minister--Distrust of the
King--Conspiracy against the Cardinal--Richelieu threatens to retire
from office--A diplomatic drama--Triumph of the Cardinal--Execution of
Chalais--Heartlessness of Gaston--Monsieur consents to an alliance with
Mademoiselle de Montpensier--A royal marriage--The victims of
Richelieu--Marie de Medicis and the Cardinal endeavour to increase
the dissension between Louis XIII and his Queen--Exile of the
Duchesse de Joyeuse--Accusation against Anne of Austria--She
becomes a state prisoner--Subtlety of Richelieu--Anticipated
rupture with England--Embassy of Bassompierre--Death of the Duc de
Lesdiguières--Favour of Saint-Simon--Pregnancy of the Duchesse
d'Orléans--Dissolute conduct of Monsieur--Birth of Mademoiselle--Death
of Madame--Marie de Medicis seeks to effect a marriage between Monsieur
and a Florentine Princess--Buckingham lands in France, but is
repulsed--Illness of Louis XIII--Disgust of the Duc d'Orléans--Louis
wearies of the camp--He is incensed against the Cardinal--The King
returns to Paris--Monsieur affects a passion for the Princesse Marie de
Gonzaga, which alarms the sovereign--His distrust of the
Queen-mother--Marie de Medicis withdraws her confidence from the
Cardinal--Mother and son--Louis returns to La Rochelle--The city
capitulates--Triumphal entry of Louis XIII into Paris--Exhortation of
the Papal Nuncio.
The death of James I. and the succession of Charles, Prince of Wales, to
the English throne, at the commencement of the year 1625, excited the
greatest uneasiness at the Court of France, where all parties were alike
anxious for the arrival of the Papal dispensation. Nor was the new
monarch himself less desirous of completing the contemplated alliance,
as only three days were suffered to elapse after the demise of his royal
father ere he hastened to ratify the treaty, and to make preparations
for its immediate fulfilment.[90]
On the arrival of the long-expected courier from Rome the dispensation
was delivered into the hands of Marie de Medicis by Spada, the Papal
Nuncio; and on the 8th of May the Duc de Chevreuse, whom Charles had
appointed as his proxy, signed the contract of marriage, conjointly with
the Earl of Carlisle and Lord Holland, who officiated as Ambassadors
Extraordinary from the Court of St. James's. At the ceremonial of the
marriage, which took place on the 11th of May, the difference of
religion between the English monarch and the French Princess compelled
the observance of certain conventional details which were all
scrupulously fulfilled. The Cardinal de la Rochefoucauld, Grand Almoner
of France, pronounced the nuptial benediction on a platform erected
before the portal of Notre-Dame, after which the Duc de Chevreuse and
the English Ambassadors conducted the young Queen to the entrance of the
choir, and retired until the conclusion of the mass, when they rejoined
Louis XIII and their new sovereign at the same spot, and accompanied
them to the great hall of the archiepiscopal palace, where a sumptuous
banquet had been prepared.[91]
Some days subsequently, George Villiers, Duke of Buckingham, arrived
unexpectedly in Paris, to urge the immediate departure of the Princess
for her new kingdom, and to express the impatience of the King his
master to welcome her to his dominions. The extraordinary magnificence
displayed by Buckingham on this occasion was the comment of the whole
Court, while the remarkable beauty of his person excited no less
admiration than the splendour of his apparel; nor was it long ere the
scandal-mongers of the royal circle whispered that it had not failed in
its effect upon the fancy, if not upon the heart, of Anne of Austria,
who received his homage with an evident delight which flattered the
vanity of the brilliant visitor. High in favour with his sovereign, and
anxious to profit by so favourable an opportunity of enhancing his own
personal attractions, Buckingham appeared at the Court festivals attired
in the Crown jewels, and indulged in a reckless profusion which enriched
all with whom he came into contact, and soon rendered him a general
favourite. Aware of the impression that he had produced, the English
Duke, whose ambition was as great as his gallantry, soon suffered
himself to be betrayed into an undisguised admiration of the French
Queen, which led him to commit a thousand unbecoming follies; while Anne
was on her side so imprudent that her most partial biographer deemed it
necessary to advance an apology for her levity by declaring that "it
should excite no astonishment if he had the happiness to make this
beautiful Queen acknowledge that if a virtuous woman had been able to
love another better than her husband, he would have been the only person
who could have pleased her." [92]
Fortunately, alike for the thoughtless Anne and the audacious favourite,
this dangerous intercourse was abruptly terminated by the departure of
Madame Henrietta, who left the capital in great pomp, accompanied by the
King her brother (who was to proceed only as far as Compiègne), and by
the two Queens, from whom she was not to separate until the moment of
her embarkation at Boulogne, where the vessels of Charles awaited her
arrival. On reaching Amiens, however, Marie de Medicis was attacked by
sudden indisposition; and as, after a delay of several days, it was
found impossible that she should continue her journey, the English Queen
was compelled to take leave of her august mother and sister-in-law in
that city, and to proceed to the coast under the escort of Monsieur, who
was attended by the Ducs de Luxembourg and de Bellegarde, the Maréchal
de Bassompierre, the Marquis d'Alencourt, and the Vicomte de Brigueil.
On the 22nd of June the royal fleet set sail, and in twenty-four hours
Queen Henrietta reached Dover; where she was met by her impatient
consort, who, on the following day, conducted her to Canterbury; and in
the course of July she made her entry into London, whence, however, she
was immediately removed to Hampton Court, the prevalence of the plague
in the capital rendering her sojourn there unsafe.
Having witnessed the departure of the royal bride for her new kingdom,
Monsieur and his brilliant train returned to Amiens; and on the recovery
of the Queen-mother the whole of the august party retraced their steps
to Paris, whence they shortly afterwards proceeded to Fontainebleau.[93]
At this period Richelieu had become all-powerful He possessed the entire
confidence alike of the King and of the Queen-mother. He had been
appointed chief of the Council, and possessed such unlimited authority
that he opened the despatches, and issued orders without even asking the
sanction of Marie de Medicis, whose influence was rapidly becoming
merely nominal; and whose favour he treated so lightly that he never
appeared at Court during the absence of the King lest the jealousy of
Louis should be aroused, and he should be induced to believe that the
wily minister still acknowledged the supremacy of his ancient
benefactress;[94] while he flattered the ambition of the war-loving
monarch by attributing to him personally all the success which attended
his own measures alike in the foreign and civil contests which were at
that period writing the history of the French nation in characters
of blood.
[Illustration: THE CARDINAL DE RICHELIEU.]
Marie de Medicis was, however, slow to discover the falling-off of her
long-cherished favourite. She still dwelt upon the years in which he
had, as she fondly believed, devoted himself to her interests, when
others in whom she had equally trusted had shrunk from all participation
in her altered fortunes; and she was, moreover, conscious that to his
counsels she was indebted for much of the prudence and ability which she
had displayed on occasions of difficulty. It was, consequently, painful
and almost impossible to suspect that now, when she was once more
restored to the confidence of her son, and had resumed that position in
the government which she had so long coveted in vain, he could sacrifice
her to his own ambition. But Marie de Medicis, subtle politician as
she esteemed herself, was utterly incapable of appreciating the
character of Richelieu. She had now reached her fifty-third year; she
was no longer necessary to the fortunes of the man whose greatness had
been her own work, and she had ceased to interest him either as a woman
or as a Queen. She had, moreover, become devout; and her increasing
attachment for the Jesuit Bérulle (for whom she subsequently obtained a
seat in the Conclave) rendered her less observant of the neglect to
which she was subjected by the minister; while her superstition,
together with the prejudices and jealousies in which she indulged,
occupied her mind, and blinded her to the efforts which the Cardinal was
hourly making to reduce her to absolute insignificance.
Perhaps no greater proof of the unbounded influence which Richelieu had
obtained over the mind of the King at this period can be adduced than is
afforded by the fact that although, as we have shown, Louis had
stringently forbidden all further mention of his brother's marriage with
Mademoiselle de Montpensier, and Gaston had at length consented to
relinquish his claim to her hand, the Cardinal found little difficulty
in inducing the sovereign to rescind this order, and to instruct M.
d'Ornano to determine the weak and timid Prince to renew his addresses
to the heiress, and to hasten the completion of the marriage ceremonies.
Gaston d'Anjou had attained his seventeenth year; and although of more
robust temperament than the King, he was constitutionally indolent and
undecided. His after-history proves him to have been alike an incapable
diplomatist, a timid leader, and a false and fickle friend; but as yet
no suspicion of his courage or good faith had been entertained by any
party, and he was consequently the centre around which rallied every
cabal in turn. He was moreover, as we have already stated, the favourite
son of the Queen-mother, who saw in him not only a cherished child but
also a political ally. By securing the support of Gaston, Marie believed
that she should be the more readily enabled to maintain her influence,
and to protect herself against any future aggression on the part of
Louis, with whom she felt her apparent reconciliation to be at once
hollow and unstable; and as the vain and vacillating character of the
Prince readily lent itself to the projects of each cabal in succession,
so long as it did not interfere with his pleasures, every party in turn
believed him to be devoted to its especial interests, and calculated
upon his support whenever the struggle should commence. Thus, while
himself jealous of Louis, whose crown he envied, Gaston d'Anjou was no
less an object of distrust and terror to the King; who, whatever may
have been his other defects, was never found deficient in personal
courage; and who could not consequently comprehend that with every
inclination to play the conspirator, the young Prince was utterly
incapable of guiding or even supporting any party powerful and honest
enough openly to declare itself.
Under these circumstances, however, it is not surprising that the
marriage of the heir-apparent should have excited the most absorbing
interest not only at the French Court, but throughout all Europe. The
health of Louis XIII continued feeble and uncertain; he rallied slowly
and painfully after each successive attack; and since the visit of the
Duke of Buckingham to Paris his repugnance to Anne of Austria had become
more marked than ever; while the young Queen in her turn resented his
neglect with augmented bitterness, and loudly complained of the
injustice to which she should be subjected were the children of Gaston
d'Anjou to inherit the throne of France. The Princes of the Blood
supported Anne in this objection; for neither Condé nor the Comte de
Soissons could, as a natural consequence, regard with favour any measure
which must tend to diminish the chances of their own succession; while
the latter, moreover, desired to become himself the husband of
Mademoiselle de Montpensier, and the Princesse de Condé aspired to unite
her own daughter, still a mere infant, to the brother of the King. The
other great nobles were also disinclined to see the young Prince form so
close an alliance with the Duc de Guise; and the Duke of Savoy was eager
to bestow on him the hand of Marie de Gonzaga, the heiress of
Montferrat, and thus to secure to himself a powerful ally against the
perpetual aggressions of his numerous enemies.
D'Ornano, as we have seen, had been commanded to renew the negotiation
of marriage between Gaston and the bride destined for him by Henri IV,
but private reasons decided him against the measure; and, in
consequence of his representations, the Prince formally refused to obey
the expressed wishes of the King. The moment was a favourable one for
Richelieu, who had long sought a pretext for ridding himself of
Monsieur's favourite friend and counsellor; and he accordingly lost no
time in impressing upon Louis that, as the young Prince was entirely
governed by M. d'Ornano, no concession could be expected from him until
that individual had been removed from about his person. Nor was the
Maréchal alone an object of suspicion and uneasiness to the minister,
for it was not long ere he ascertained that the party of the Prince was
hourly becoming more formidable, and that were the cabal not crushed in
its infancy, it might very soon tend to endanger at once the safety of
the sovereign and the tranquillity of the kingdom; while he also learned
through his emissaries that his own security was no less involved in the
issue than that of Louis himself.
Under these circumstances Richelieu at once felt that the only method by
which he could hope to control Gaston was by proceeding with the utmost
severity against all such persons as should be convicted of endeavouring
to excite the mind of the Prince against his royal brother; a policy
which Louis eagerly adopted. In accordance with this resolution, during
the sojourn of the Court at Fontainebleau in the month of May, the King
on his return from a hunting-party, after having retired to rest,
suddenly rose again, dressed himself, and at ten o'clock at night
summoned M. d'Ornano to his presence, whom he entertained for a time
with an account of the day's sport, and other inconsequent conversation,
until Du Hallier, the captain of the bodyguard, made his appearance at
the head of his archers, and approaching the Maréchal, announced to him
that he was his prisoner; requesting him to withdraw from the royal
apartment, whence he conducted him to the chamber in which the Duc de
Biron had been confined twenty-four years previously,[95] while Madame
d'Ornano at the same time received an order to quit Paris upon the
instant, and the two brothers of the disgraced courtier, together with
MM. Déageant, Modéna, and other partisans of the Maréchal, were
also arrested.
By this bold stroke of policy the Cardinal effectually paralyzed the
power of Monsieur; although this conviction was far from allaying his
personal apprehensions. Among the favourites of the Prince he had
equally marked for destruction the young Prince de Chalais,[96] the Duc
de Vendôme, and his brother the Grand Prior; but Richelieu feared by
venturing too much to lose all, for his authority had not at that period
reached its acme; and he felt all the danger which he must incur by
adopting measures of such violence against two Princes of the Blood.
The indignation of Monsieur was, moreover, thoroughly excited, and he
did not scruple either to reproach his royal brother, or to utter
threats against those who had aided in the arrest of the Maréchal, whose
restoration to liberty he vehemently demanded; and as his
representations failed to produce the desired effect, he indulged in a
thousand extravagances which only tended to strengthen the hands and to
forward the views of Richelieu, who found no difficulty in widening the
breach between Louis and the imprudent Prince by whom his authority was
openly questioned. In vain did Marie de Medicis endeavour to impress
upon him the danger of such ill-advised violence, Gaston persisted in
upholding his favourite; until the King, irritated beyond endurance,
exhibited such marked displeasure towards his brother that the weak and
timid Prince began to entertain fears for his own safety, and became
suddenly as abject as he had previously been haughty; abandoned D'Ornano
to his fate; and after signing an act, in which he promised all honour
and obedience to the sovereign, carried his condescension so far as to
visit the Cardinal at his residence at Limours, whither he had retired
on the pretext of indisposition.
Richelieu triumphed: and ere long the Duc de Vendôme and his brother
were arrested in their turn, and conveyed to the citadel of Amboise. The
Comte de Soissons, the second Prince of the Blood, fled the Court in
alarm, and took refuge in Savoy; while edict after edict was fulminated
against the nobles, which threatened all their old and long-cherished
privileges. The costume of each separate class was determined with a
minuteness of detail which exasperated the magnificent courtiers, who
had been accustomed to attire themselves in embroidery and cloth of
gold, in rich laces, and plumed and jewelled hats, and who suddenly
found themselves reduced to a sobriety of costume repugnant to their
habits; the Comte de Bouteville, of the haughty house of Montmorency,
who had dared to disregard the revived law against duelling, lost his
head upon the scaffold; and all castles, to whomsoever belonging, which
could not aid in the protection of the frontiers, or of the towns near
which they were situated, were ordered to be demolished.
The reign of Richelieu had commenced.
Meanwhile the Court had taken up its residence at Fontainebleau; where
Louis, deaf to the murmurs of his great nobles, passed his time in
hunting, a sport of which he was passionately fond; while Marie de
Medicis and the Cardinal endeavoured, by every species of dissipation,
to lull him into acquiescence with the perilous measures they
were adopting.
Always sickly and querulous, Louis was a prey to dark thoughts and
fearful anticipations of early dissolution; and even while he suffered
himself to be amused by the hawking, dancing, and feasting so lavishly
provided for his entertainment, he was never at fault, during his
frequent fits of moroseness and ill-humour, for subjects of complaint.
His brother, Gaston d'Anjou, whom he at once feared and hated, was a
constant theme of distrust; while the Comte de Soissons, the Duc de
Montmorency, and the Prince de Chalais, his sworn adherents, were at
times equally obnoxious to the suspicious and gloomy young sovereign.
Then he bewailed the treachery of the Queen, whom he believed, through
the agency of Richelieu, to be engaged in an intrigue with Spain
dangerous to his own interests; mourned over himself because he had
weakly suffered his authority to be usurped by a subject, and had not
moral courage to redeem the error; and in his most confidential moments
even inveighed against Richelieu with the bitterness of a sullen
schoolboy, declaring that it was he who had poisoned the mind of his
brother, estranged him from his wife, and deprived him of the support of
the Princes of the Blood; forgetting, or wilfully overlooking the fact,
that a single effort on his own part must have sufficed for his
emancipation from this rule of iron.
On the departure of the Court for Fontainebleau, the Cardinal, according
to his usual custom, had excused himself on the plea of ill-health from
following the King; while Gaston d'Anjou, who, despite the concession
that he had made, still deeply resented the affront to which he had been
subjected by the arrest of his favourite, had remained in Paris.
Richelieu, was, however, far from inactive in his retreat; but, while he
was occupied in further schemes of self-aggrandizement, the partisans
of the Prince were equally busy in devising the means of ridding
themselves of a thrall so obnoxious to their pride; and after mooting
several measures which were successively abandoned from their apparent
impracticability, it was at length decided that, under the pretext of a
hunting-party, nine of the conspirators should proceed to Fleury, and
there assassinate their common enemy. Of this number was the unfortunate
Chalais; who, however, before the execution of the project, confided it
to a friend, by whom he was warned against any participation in so
dangerous an attempt, and advised immediately to apprise the Cardinal of
his danger. As the young Prince hesitated to follow this counsel, the
Commandeur de Valence, who was anxious to save him from, as he believed,
inevitable destruction, assured him that should he fail to communicate
the conspiracy to the minister, he would himself instantly reveal it;
upon which Chalais, intimidated by the threat, consented to accompany
him to Richelieu, and to confess the whole.
Having listened attentively to all the details of the plot, the Cardinal
courteously thanked his informants, and requested them to proceed to
Fontainebleau, and to repeat what they had told him to the King. He was
obeyed; and an hour before midnight Louis despatched a body of troops to
Fleury, with instructions to obey the orders of the minister whatever
might be their nature; while Marie de Medicis at the same time commanded
the officers of her household and a number of the nobility to accompany
the royal guards.
As Chalais had asserted, at three o'clock on the following morning the
clerks of the kitchen to the Duc d'Anjou arrived at Fleury, and
immediately commenced their preparations for the dinner of the Prince;
upon which Richelieu caused them to be informed that he should leave the
house at the entire disposal of Monsieur; and, escorted by the armed
party that had been sent for his protection, he set out at once for
Fontainebleau, where he had no sooner arrived than he went without the
delay of a moment to the apartment of the King's brother. Gaston was in
the act of leaving his bed, and was evidently alarmed by the sudden
appearance of so unexpected a visitor; but the Cardinal, affecting not
to perceive his embarrassment, merely reproached him in the most courtly
terms for the precaution which he had taken, assuring him that he should
have felt honoured had he relied upon his hospitality; but adding that,
since his Highness had shown himself desirous of avoiding all restraint,
he was happy to be at least enabled to offer him the use of his
residence. The Prince, taken by surprise, and utterly disconcerted at
the failure of so well organized a plot, could only stammer out his
acknowledgments; and the Cardinal had no sooner heard them to an end
than he requested admission to the King, where, having briefly
expatiated upon his escape, he requested permission with ably-acted
earnestness to retire from the Court.
As we have shown, Louis was by no means slow in deprecating the
self-constituted authority of Richelieu; but he was nevertheless so well
aware of his own incapacity, that the idea of being thus abandoned by a
minister whose grasp of intellect and subtle policy had complicated the
affairs of government until he was compelled to admit his own utter
powerlessness to disentangle the involved and intricate mesh, terrified
him beyond expression; nor was Marie de Medicis, whom he hastened to
summon on perceiving the apparently resolute position assumed by
Richelieu, less alarmed than himself.
Had the scene been enacted by three individuals of mean station, it
would have been merely a painful and a degrading one, for each was alike
deceiving and deceived; but as they stood there, a crowned King, a
Princess born "under the purple," and a powerful minister, it presented
another and a more extraordinary aspect. Stolid and resolute as were
alike the mother and the son, they were totally unable to cope with the
superior talent and astuteness of the man whom they had themselves
raised to power; and before the termination of the interview Richelieu
had convinced both that his counsels and services were essential to
their own safety.
This point conceded, the wily Cardinal was enabled to make his own
terms. He received the most solemn assurances of support, not only
against the brother of the sovereign, but also against the Princes of
the Blood and all the great nobles; while a promise was moreover made,
and ratified, that he should have immediate information of every
attempt to injure him in the estimation of the King; and, finally, he
was offered a bodyguard, over which he was to possess the most
absolute control.
This exhibition of royal weakness strengthened the hands of the haughty
minister, who thus became regal in all save name and blood; and
encouraged him to pursue his system of dissimulation. As mother and son
vied with each other in opening before him the most brilliant
perspective ever conceded to a subject, he feigned a reluctance and a
humility which only tended to render their entreaties the more earnest
and the more pressing; until at length, although with apparent
unwillingness, he was prevailed upon to retain his post, and to crush
his enemies by the exhibition of a splendour and authority hitherto
without parallel in the annals of ministerial life.[97]
It was not to be anticipated that under such circumstances as these the
imprudent Chalais could retain one chance of escape. Aware of his favour
with the King, his fall at once relieved Richelieu of a rival, and
taught the weak and capricious monarch to quail before the power of the
man whom he had thus invested with almost unlimited authority; and the
natural result ensued. Unwilling to admit that he sought to revenge an
attempt against his own person, the Cardinal caused the unfortunate
young noble to be accused of a conspiracy against the life of the King
himself, and a design to effect a marriage between Anne of Austria and
the Duc d'Anjou. Judges were suborned; a court was assembled; the gay
and gallant Chalais, whose whole existence had hitherto been one round
of pleasure and splendour, and who was, as we have fully shown, too
timid and too inexperienced to enact, even with the faintest chance of
success, the character of a conspirator, was put upon his trial for
treason, and condemned to die upon the scaffold; nor did the efforts of
his numerous friends avail to avert his fate.
Louis forgot his former affection for his brilliant favourite in his
fear of the minister who sought his destruction; while the heartless and
ungrateful Gaston, wilfully overlooking the fact that it was in his
service that the miserable young man had become compromised, actually
appeared as one of his accusers; his relatives were forbidden to
intercede in his behalf; and finally, when some zealous friends
succeeded in hiding away not only the royal executioner, but also the
city functionary, in the hope of delaying his execution, the emissaries
of the Cardinal secured the services of a condemned felon, who, on a
promise of unconditional pardon, consented to fill the office of
headsman; and who, between his inexperience and his horror at his
unwonted task, performed his hideous functions so imperfectly that it
was only on the thirty-fourth stroke that the head of the martyred young
man was severed from his body.[98]
During the progress of this iniquitous trial (which took place in the
city of Nantes, whither Louis had proceeded to convoke the States of
that province) both Marie de Medicis and Richelieu were assiduously
labouring to accomplish the marriage of Gaston with Mademoiselle de
Montpensier; nor does there remain the slightest doubt that it was to
the splendid promises held out by his mother and her minister on this
occasion, that the cowardly and treacherous conduct of the Prince
towards his unfortunate adherent must be ascribed. A brilliant appanage
was allotted to him; he was to assume the title of Duc d'Orléans; to
occupy a post in the Government; and to enjoy a revenue of a million
of francs.
Prospects far less flattering than these would have sufficed to purchase
Gaston, whose besetting sin throughout his whole life was the most
disgusting and inordinate selfishness; but when his consent had been
obtained, a new difficulty supervened on the part of the King, whose
distrustful character would not permit him to perceive the eagerness
with which the Cardinal urged forward the alliance without misgivings
which were fostered by his immediate friends. Richelieu, however, soon
succeeded by his representations in convincing the suspicious monarch of
the policy of thus compelling his brother to a thorough subjection to
his own authority, which could not have been enforced had Monsieur
allied himself to a Princess of Austria or Spain; an argument which was
instantly appreciated, and a royal command was accordingly despatched to
the elected bride to join the Court at Nantes, under the escort of the
Duc de Bellegarde, the Maréchal de Bassompierre, and the
Marquis d'Effiat.
In accordance with this invitation, Mademoiselle de Montpensier arrived
at Nantes on the 1st of August; and on the 5th of the same month, while
the wretched and deserted Chalais was exposed to the most frightful
torture, the marriage took place. "There was little pomp or display,"
says Mézeray, "either at the betrothal or at the nuptial ceremony."
_Feux de joie_ and salvos of artillery alone announced its completion.
The mass was, however, performed by Richelieu himself; and so thoroughly
had he succeeded in convincing Louis of the expediency of the measure,
that the delight of the young King was infinitely more conspicuous than
that of the bridegroom. The satisfaction of Marie de Medicis, although
sufficiently evident, was calm and dignified; but the King embraced the
bride on three several occasions; and no one could have imagined from
his deportment that he had for a single instant opposed a marriage which
now appeared to have fulfilled his most sanguine wishes.[99]
The reign of blood had nevertheless commenced. The head of Chalais fell
on the 19th of August; and on the 2nd of September the Maréchal d'Ornano
expired in his prison; a fate which was shared on the 28th of February
1629 by the Grand Prieur de Vendôme, both of these deaths being
attributed to poison. Be the fact as it may, thus much is at least,
certain, that the Cardinal, not daring to drag two legitimated Princes
of the Blood to the scaffold, had gradually rendered their captivity
more and more rigorous, as if to prove to the nation over which he had
stretched his iron arm that no rank, however elevated, and no name,
however ancient, could protect its possessor.
Having accomplished the marriage of the Duc d'Orléans, Richelieu and the
Queen-mother next laboured to widen the breach between Louis XIII and
his wife; for which purpose they represented that she had taken an
active part in the lately detected conspiracy, and was secretly
intriguing with Spain against the interests of her royal husband; an
attempt in which she had been aided and abetted by her confidential
friends.
The first consequence of this accusation was the arrest of Madame de
Chevreuse, who, after having undergone a formal examination, was exiled
from the Court; and this order had no sooner been obeyed than Anne of
Austria was summoned to the presence of the King, whom she found seated
between the Queen-mother and the Cardinal, and there solemnly accused,
on the pretended revelations of Chalais while under torture, of having
intrigued to procure the death of her husband, and her own marriage with
his brother. To this accusation the Spanish Princess disdainfully
replied that "she should have gained so little by the exchange, that the
absurdity of the charge must suffice for its refutation;" but her
haughty and indignant retort produced no effect upon her judges. She was
commanded thenceforward to reside exclusively at the palaces of the
Louvre and St. Germain; without the privilege of receiving a single
guest, not even excepting the ambassador of the King her brother, or the
Spanish attendants who had accompanied her to France, and, moreover,
forbidden all correspondence beyond the limits of the kingdom; while, at
the same time, as if to complete her humiliation, she was strictly
prohibited from receiving any male visitor in her apartments during the
absence of the King.[100]
Although, as we have stated, Richelieu was present at this degrading
scene, he nevertheless professed to be perfectly independent of what he
thought proper to designate as mere family dissensions, entirely beyond
the functions of a minister; and thus the whole odium of the proceedings
fell upon Louis XIII and the Queen-mother, while the Cardinal himself
remained ostensibly absorbed in public business. Neither the great
nobles nor the people were, however, deceived by this assumed
disinterestedness; but all felt alike convinced that the total
alienation which supervened between the royal couple was simply a part
of the system by which Richelieu sought one day exclusively to govern
France. Henriette Marie had left Paris after her betrothal,
accompanied by a numerous retinue of French attendants of both sexes,
and by several of the priests of the Oratory, attired in their black
gowns; and on her arrival at Whitehall she had been permitted to have
the services of her religion performed in one of the apartments of that
palace; but this concession did not, unhappily, serve to satisfy the
exactions of the girl-Queen, who, even during the first days of her
residence in England, suffered herself to betray all her antipathy to
the heretical country which was hereafter to be her home. At the public
ceremonial of her marriage, when the venerable Abbey of Westminster was
crowded with princes, bishops, and barons, she refused to receive her
crown from the hands of a Protestant prelate, or to bend her knee before
the Lord Primate; while at the same time, relying on her youth and the
effect which her extreme beauty had produced upon her royal consort, she
endeavoured to obtain an ascendency over him that excited the jealousy
and distrust of the English Court; a feeling which was not lessened by
the fact that she succeeded in extorting from the King his sanction to
erect a chapel for the more solemn observance of the rites and
ceremonies of her faith. Acting under the influence of Richelieu, who at
frequent intervals despatched missionaries to London upon futile
errands, with instructions that she should retain them about her person,
she moreover soon taught herself to believe that she had a great
mission to accomplish; and under this impression she carried her
imprudence so far as to authorize a public procession through the
streets of London, in which she herself appeared mounted upon a mule,
surrounded and followed by all her household, and a crowd of Roman
Catholic ecclesiastics.
So wanton a disregard for the feelings of her new subjects excited the
indignation of the Parliament, and made them distrustful of the Duke of
Buckingham, through whose agency and influence the alliance with France
had been formed; while it laid the foundation of those accusations
against him which were so warmly refuted by the sovereign. The
Parliament was dissolved, and the necessity of raising subsidies engaged
the minister in measures which became hostile to the French interests.
An anti-Catholic reaction was declaring itself; and Buckingham at once
felt that he could not more effectually satisfy both the Parliament and
the people than by suppressing without delay that spirit of religious
defiance which was arising in the very palace of the King.
With this conviction he accordingly declared to the young Queen, a few
days after the public pilgrimage which she had made, that she must
immediately send back to France, not only the members of her household,
but also all the ecclesiastics who had induced her so ostentatiously to
insult the faith of the nation by which she had been received and
welcomed with a warmth that merited more consideration on her part.
Indignant at so peremptory an order, Henriette exhibited an amount of
violence which in a mere girl failed to produce the effect that she had
anticipated. The Duke continued calm and resolute, while she, on her
side, vehemently refused to comply with his directions; and after having
reproached the sovereign in the most bitter terms for what she
designated both as a breach of faith and as an act of tyranny, she
summoned the Bishop of Mende, the French Ambassador, to the palace, and
instructed him to apprise the King her brother of the insult with which
she was threatened.
The prelate approved her resistance: and loudly declared that neither
the individuals composing her household, nor the ecclesiastics who were
attached to it, should leave England without an order to that effect
from their own sovereign; and he forthwith despatched couriers to Paris,
to inform the Court of the position of the English Queen; to which Louis
replied by insisting that the persons who had accompanied his royal
sister to her new kingdom should be permitted to remain about her; in
default of which concession he should thenceforward hold himself
aggrieved, and become the irreconcilable enemy of the British
Government.
The Duke of Buckingham nevertheless persisted in his resolution, and the
foreign attendants of Henriette were compelled to return to France, to
the excessive indignation of Marie de Medicis, who refused to see in the
extreme munificence of Charles towards the exiled household any
extenuation of the affront which had been put upon her favourite
daughter; while Henriette on her part, far from endeavouring to adapt
herself to circumstances, and to yield with dignified submission to a
privation which it was no longer in her power to avert, gave way to all
the petulance of a spoiled girl, and overwhelmed the minister with
reproaches and even threats. So unmeasured, indeed, were her invectives
that at length, when she had on one occasion exhausted alike the temper
and the endurance of Buckingham, he so far forgot the respect due to her
rank and to her sex, as well as his own chivalry as a noble, as to
retort with an impetuosity little inferior to her own that she had
better not proceed too far, "for that in England queens had sometimes
lost their heads;" a display of insolence which Henriette never forgot
nor forgave, and which was immediately communicated to the French Court.
Time, far from lessening the animosity of the young Queen towards the
favourite, or the consequent schism between herself and the King,
appeared rather to increase both; and Richelieu, after having for a
while contemplated a war with England conjointly with Philip of Spain,
ultimately abandoned the idea as dangerous and doubtful to the interests
of France. M. de Blainville and the Marquis d'Effiat were despatched to
the Court of London with orders to attempt a compromise; but both
signally failed; and Louis had no sooner returned to Paris than the
Cardinal, who was aware that Buckingham was as anxious to commence
hostilities as he was himself desirous to maintain peace, induced the
King to despatch Bassompierre as ambassador-extraordinary to the Court
of Whitehall with stringent instructions to effect, if possible, a good
understanding between the two countries.
On his arrival in England, however, Bassompierre discovered to his great
consternation that the coldness existing between the English monarch and
his Queen was even more serious than had been apprehended at his own
Court; and he was met on the very threshold of his task by a declaration
from the Duke of Buckingham that Charles would only consent to give him
a public audience on condition that he should not touch upon the subject
which had brought him to England; as he felt that it was one which must
necessarily make him lose his temper, which would be undignified in the
presence of his Court and with the Queen at his side; who, angered by
the dismissal of her French retinue, would not, as he felt convinced,
fail in her turn to be guilty of some extravagance, but would probably
shed tears before everybody; and that consequently, without this pledge
on the part of the French envoy, he would accord him merely a private
interview. Bassompierre hesitated for a time before he could bring
himself to consent to such a compromise of his own dignity and that of
his royal master; but, aware of the importance attached by Richelieu to
the result of his mission, he at length declared that after having
delivered the letters with which he was entrusted, he would leave it to
his Majesty to determine the length of the audience, which might be
easily abridged by a declaration that the subjects upon which they had
to treat would require more time than his Majesty could then command,
and that he would consequently appoint an earlier hour for seeing him
in private.
This delicate affair having been thus satisfactorily arranged, the
public audience took place at Hampton Court. Bassompierre was introduced
into the royal presence by the Duke of Buckingham and the Earl of
Carlisle, and on entering he found the King and Queen seated upon a
raised dais, surrounded by a brilliant Court, but both sovereigns rose
as he bent before them. Having presented his letters, together with the
royal message, Charles, as had been previously arranged, pleaded want of
leisure to enter upon public business; upon which the envoy proceeded to
pay his respects to the Queen, who briefly replied that his Majesty
having given her his permission to return to the capital, she should be
able when there to discourse with him at greater length. Bassompierre
then withdrew, and was escorted by all the great nobles to his carriage.
This commencement, as will be at once apparent, was sufficiently
unpromising, but the French envoy was in a position of such
responsibility that he dared not suffer himself to be discouraged; nor
had he been long in England ere he became painfully convinced that the
petulance and want of self-control in which Henriette wilfully indulged,
daily tended to widen a schism that was already too threatening.
Nevertheless, Bassompierre remained firmly at his post. Matrimonial
feuds in high places were no novelty to the brilliant courtier of Henri
IV and the confidant of Marie de Medicis; and he at once felt that he
must enact at St. James's the same rôle as Sully had formerly
represented at Fontainebleau and the Louvre; nor did his experience of
the past fail, moreover, to convince him of the policy of endeavouring
in the first instance to effect a reconciliation between the Queen and
the favourite. This was, however, no easy task; but at length the
zealous Marquis succeeded in the attempt, as he informs us in his usual
naïve style.
"On Sunday the 25th," he says, "I went to fetch the Duke and took him
with me to the Queen, where he made his peace with her, which I had
accomplished after a thousand difficulties. The King afterwards came in,
who also made it up with her and caressed her a great deal, thanking me
for having restored a good understanding between the Duke and his wife;
and then he took me to his chamber, where he showed me his jewels, which
are very fine."
On the morrow, however, when Bassompierre went to pay his respects to
Henriette at Somerset House, he discovered that he had personally lost
considerably in her favour, as she vehemently complained that he
sacrificed her dignity as a Princess of France to expediency; and had
espoused the cause of her adversary instead of upholding her own. To
these reproaches the French envoy replied by explaining the difficulty
of his position, and the earnest desire of his sovereign to maintain
peace; but this reasoning did not avail to satisfy the wounded vanity of
the girl-Queen; who finally, by her violence, compelled Bassompierre to
remind her that her headstrong egotism was endangering the interests of
her royal brother. Incensed at this accusation, Henriette at once wept
and recriminated; and finally the French courtier retired from her
presence, and hastened to forward a courier to Paris to solicit the
interference of the King and his minister, and to request further
instructions for his guidance.
A few days subsequently, after he had received urgent letters from the
King, by which he was commanded to avoid in every emergency a rupture
between the two countries, Bassompierre again waited upon the Queen, and
explained to her the stringent orders of her royal brother; but
Henriette persisted in declaring that her actual position was not
appreciated at the French Court; and while she was maintaining this
argument, despite all the asseverations of the bewildered envoy, the
arrival of the King was announced. Charles had no sooner entered the
apartment than a violent quarrel arose, which threatened such serious
consequences that Bassompierre interposed, assuring the imprudent
Princess that should she not control her temper, and acknowledge her
error, he would on the following day take leave of his Britannic
Majesty, and on his return to Paris explain to the sovereign and the
Queen-mother that he had been compelled to abandon his mission entirely
through her obstinate and uncompromising violence.
As this threat produced an evident effect upon Henriette, the King had
no sooner retired than the Maréchal, with admirable tact and temper,
represented to the young Queen that at the age of sixteen she was
incompetent to appreciate the measures of her royal consort; while by
her intemperate language and strong prejudices she was seriously
injuring her own cause. Henriette, during her paroxysms of petulance,
was deaf to all his remonstrances; but on this occasion she listened
with greater patience, and even admitted that she had gone too far; a
concession which once more restored the hopes of Bassompierre.
Meanwhile he continued to receive constant letters of encouragement,
both from Louis XIII and Richelieu, urging him to persevere until he
should have succeeded in effecting a perfect reconciliation not only
between the King and Queen, but also between the Queen and the Duke of
Buckingham; and assuring him of their perfect satisfaction with the
measures which he had already adopted. Marie de Medicis was, however,
less placable; and much as she deprecated the idea of hostilities with
England, she nevertheless openly applauded the resistance of her
daughter to what she designated as the tyrannical presumption of
Buckingham, and the blind weakness of Charles, who sacrificed the
domestic happiness of a young and lovely bride to the arrogant intrigues
of an overbearing favourite. The English Duke himself was peculiarly
obnoxious to the Queen-mother, who could not forgive his insolent
admiration of Anne of Austria, and the ostentatious manner in which he
had made the wife of her son a subject of Court scandal; while, at the
same time, she deeply resented the fact that Henriette had not even been
permitted to retain her confessor, but was compelled to accept one
chosen for her by the minister.
While, therefore, Bassompierre constantly received directions from both
the King and the Cardinal to ensure peace at any price, and to prevail
upon the young Queen to make the concessions necessary for producing
this result, Marie de Medicis as continually wrote to entreat of the
Maréchal to uphold the interests of the French Princess, and to assure
her of her perfect satisfaction at the spirit which she had evinced;
though it is doubtful if, when these messages were entrusted to the
royal envoy, they were ever communicated to the excitable Henriette.
Finally, to his great satisfaction, Bassompierre succeeded in carrying
out the wishes of his sovereign; and he at length took his leave of the
English Court, laden with rich presents, after having received the warm
acknowledgments of all parties for the patience and impartiality with
which he had acted throughout; and the gratification of feeling that a
better, and as he hoped a lasting, understanding existed between the
royal pair. The household of Henriette had been re-organized, and
although upon a more reduced scale than that by which she had been
accompanied from France, it was still sufficiently numerous to satisfy
even the exigencies of royalty; and thus, estimated by its consequences,
this embassy was probably the most brilliant event of Bassompierre's
whole career; as from the period of his residence at the Court of
England, the young Queen possessed both the heart and the confidence of
her royal husband, whose affection for his beautiful and accomplished
consort thenceforward endured to the last day of his existence.[101]
In the month of November France lost another of her marshals in the
person of M. de Lesdiguières, who had passed his eightieth year; while
the subsequently celebrated court _roué_, the Duc de Saint-Simon, became
the accredited favourite of the changeful and capricious Louis, without,
however, attaining any influence in the government, which had at this
period become entirely concentrated in the hands of Richelieu and the
Queen-mother.
The pregnancy of the Duchesse d'Orléans, which was formally announced at
the close of this year, was a source of great exultation to her
husband, who received with undisguised delight the congratulations which
were poured out upon him from every side; nor did he seek to disguise
his conviction that, should the Queen continue childless, there was
nothing to which he might see fit to aspire, which, with the assistance
of the Guises and their faction, he would find it impossible to attain.
A general hatred of Richelieu was the ruling sentiment of the great
nobles, who were anxious to effect his overthrow, but the Cardinal was
too prudent to be taken at a disadvantage; and he at once felt that in
addition to the blow which he had aimed at the power of the barons by
depriving them of their fortified places, he still possessed the means
of maintaining his position, and even of increasing his authority, by
labouring to accomplish the destruction of the Protestants; a policy
which was eagerly adopted by Louis, whose morbid superstition, coupled
with his love of war for its own sake, led him to believe that the work
of slaughter which must necessarily supervene could not but prove
agreeable to Heaven; counselled as it was, moreover, by a dignitary of
the Church.
While Richelieu was thus seeking to involve the nation in a renewal of
that intestine warfare by which it had already been so fearfully
visited, simply to further his own ambitious views, the princes and
nobles whom he had irritated into a thirst for vengeance were no less
eager to attain the same object in order to effect his ruin; and for
this purpose they endeavoured to secure the co-operation of Gaston,
deluding themselves with the belief that the heir-apparent to the
throne, who had encouraged their disaffection, and for the maintenance
of whose interests Ornano and Chalais had already suffered, would not
refuse to them at so critical a moment the support of his name, his
wealth, and his influence. But these sanguine malcontents had not yet
learned to appreciate the egotistical and ungrateful nature of the young
Prince, who kept no mental record of services conferred, and retained no
feeling of compunction for sufferings endured in his cause; but who ever
sought to avail himself of both, while he continued utterly unable to
appreciate either.
The appeal was consequently made in vain. Enriched by the careful policy
of the Cardinal, Gaston sought only to profit by his suddenly-attained
wealth; and despite the entreaties of his wife, whose youth, beauty, and
accomplishments might well, for a time at least, have commanded his
respect, he plunged into the most puerile and degrading pleasures, and
abandoned himself to a life of alternate indolence and dissipation. The
immense fortune of the Duchess, which had moreover been greatly
increased by the accumulated interest of a long minority, was wasted in
the most shameful orgies, amid dissolute and unseemly associates; and
even while he was awaiting with undisguised anxiety the birth of a son
who, as he fondly trusted, would one day fill the throne of France, no
sentiment of forbearance towards the expectant mother could induce him
to sacrifice his own selfish passions.[102]
On the 29th of May the desired event took place, but to the extreme
mortification of the Duc d'Orléans it was announced that the Duchess had
given birth to a daughter--the Princess who subsequently became famous
during the reign of Louis XIV under the title of La Grande Mademoiselle.
Nor was this the greatest trial which Gaston was destined to endure, as
four days subsequently the unfortunate Duchess breathed her last, to the
regret of the whole Court, to whom she had become endeared by her
gentleness and urbanity; and to the deep grief of the Queen-mother, who
saw in this deplorable event the overthrow of her most cherished
prospects. Louis XIII was, however, far from participating in the
general feeling of sorrow, nor did he seek to conceal his exultation.
"You weep, Madame," he said coldly to Marie de Medicis, whom he found
absorbed in grief; "leave tears to your son, who will soon be enabled to
drown them in dissipation. You will do well also not to expose him for
some time to come to the chance of a second disappointment of the same
nature; he is scarcely fitted for a married life, and has signally
failed in his first attempt at domestic happiness." The Queen-mother
offered no reply to this injunction; but while the King and Richelieu
were absorbed by the invasion of Buckingham, and the persecution of the
Protestants, she commenced a negotiation with the Grand Duke of Florence
which had for its object an alliance between the widowed Gaston and one
of the daughters of that Prince.
Buckingham had been repulsed by the French troops before the Island of
Rhé, but had ultimately effected a landing; and on the 28th of June the
King left Paris in order to join the army at La Rochelle, and to prevent
a junction between the English general and the reformed party. He had
already been threatened by symptoms of fever, but his anxiety to oppose
the enemy was so great that he disregarded the representations and
entreaties of those about him, and proceeded to Beaulieu, where he
slept. Shortly after his arrival in that town his malady increased, but
he still refused to follow the advice of his physicians, and on the
morrow advanced as far as Villeroy, where, however, he was compelled to
remain, being utterly incapable of further exertion.
This intelligence no sooner reached the Queen-mother than she hastened
to rejoin the royal invalid; an example which was followed a few days
subsequently by Anne of Austria, the Keeper of the Seals, and the whole
Court. The indisposition of the King, which for some days threatened the
most fatal results, was, however, ultimately conquered by his
physicians; and on the 15th of August the royal patient was declared
convalescent.[103]
During the illness of the sovereign the entire control of public affairs
had, by his command, been formally confided to Marie de Medicis and the
Cardinal; and he was no sooner in a state to resume his journey than he
hastened to La Rochelle, which was blockaded by his forces under the
orders of Monsieur; while the troops destined to succour the Island of
Rhé were placed under the command of the Maréchal de Schomberg, and
Louis de Marillac,[104] the brother of Michel de Marillac, the Keeper of
the Seals (who, through the influence of Richelieu, had succeeded M.
d'Aligre in that dignity), by whom Buckingham was compelled, after a
siege of three months, to evacuate the island, and to retreat in
confusion, and not without severe loss, to the vessels which
awaited him.
This victory created immense exultation in France; the Duc de
Saint-Simon was instructed to convey the colours and cannon taken from
the English with great pomp to the capital, and public rejoicings
testified the delight with which the citizens of Paris received the
welcome trophies. One individual alone took no share in the general
triumph, and that one was the Duc d'Orléans, who had been deprived of
his command by the King, in order that it might be conferred upon the
Cardinal de Richelieu, and who had so deeply resented the indignity that
he instantly retired from the army and returned to Paris, leaving Louis
and his minister to continue the siege[105].
The vigorous defence of the Rochelais, however, and the extreme severity
of the winter, did not fail to produce their effect upon the King, who
became weary of a campaign which exacted more mental energy than
physical courage, and who was anxious to return to the capital. He
declared his constitution to be undermined, and asserted that he should
die if he remained in the camp; but as he feared that his reputation
might suffer should he appear to abandon the army at his own
instigation, he was desirous that Richelieu should suggest his
departure, and thus afford him an opportunity of seeming resistance;
while the minister, who was unsuspicious of the truth, did not hesitate
to assure him that his absence at so important a juncture might prove
fatal to his interests, and could not fail to tarnish his fame as a
general. Incensed by this opposition to his secret wishes, Louis
retorted so bitterly that the Cardinal at once perceived his error, and
hastened to repair it; nor did he do this an hour too soon, as the
exasperation of the King was so great that he even talked of dispensing
with his services; but the able policy of Richelieu once more saved him,
and he so skilfully convinced the King only a few hours subsequently
that his presence was necessary in the capital in order to counteract
the intrigues of the Queen-mother and the Duc d'Orléans, that the
ruffled pride of the weak monarch was soothed, while a plausible pretext
for his departure was supplied of which he hastened to avail himself;
and having taken leave of the troops, he at length set forth for Paris
on the 10th of February.
Louis was rendered, moreover, the more earnest to regain the capital by
the constant information which he received of the gaieties in which the
two Queens and Monsieur were constantly indulging while he was devoured
by melancholy under the walls of the beleaguered city; nor had he been
indifferent to a rumour which had reached him of the marked inclination
evinced by the Prince his brother for the beautiful and accomplished
Marie de Gonzaga, the daughter of the Duc de Nevers, who shortly
afterwards became Duke of Mantua.[106]
Coupled with his disinclination to see Gaston again placed in a position
to give an heir to the French throne, Louis had sufficiently profited by
the lessons of Richelieu to feel the whole extent of the danger by which
he would be threatened should Gaston succeed in acquiring allies beyond
the frontiers; and he accordingly hastened to express to the
Queen-mother his displeasure at the intelligence of this new passion,
with a coldness which immediately tended to convince her that a great
change had taken place in his feelings towards herself. Alarmed by this
conviction, and anxious to discover the cause of so marked a falling-off
in his confidence, Marie de Medicis exerted all her energies to
ascertain through whose agency her influence had thus been undermined;
nor was it long ere she became assured that Richelieu had availed
himself of her absence to renew all the old misgivings of the King, and
by rendering her motives and affection questionable, to make himself
entirely master of the mind of the jealous and suspicious monarch.
Once satisfied of this fact, the Queen-mother resolved to profit in her
turn by the absence of the Cardinal, whose ingratitude was so flagrant
as thenceforward to sever every link between them; and the opportunity
afforded by the open demonstrations of affection which Gaston lavished
upon the Mantuan Princess was consequently eagerly seized upon in order
to counteract the evil offices of the minister. Marie had watched the
growing passion of the Duc d'Orléans with an annoyance as great as that
of the King himself, for she had never forgotten the animosity displayed
towards her by the Duc de Nevers; and she was, moreover, anxious, as we
have already stated, to effect an alliance between her second son and a
Princess of Tuscany; but aware of the capricious and unstable character
of Gaston, she had hitherto confined herself to expostulations, which
had produced little effect. Now, however, she resolved to derive the
desired benefit from a circumstance which she had previously deprecated,
and, summoning Monsieur, she readily persuaded him to affect the most
violent indignation at her opposition, while she, on her side, would
evince an equal degree of displeasure against himself. To this
arrangement Gaston readily consented, as he delighted in intrigue, and
was aware that by pursuing Marie de Gonzaga with his addresses he should
alarm Richelieu as well as annoy the King. An open rupture accordingly
appeared to take place between the mother and son; and while the Duke
continued to visit the young Princess, and to enact the impassioned
lover, Marie de Medicis expressed her indignation in the most unmeasured
terms, and threatened him with her unrelenting anger should he persist
in his suit. So well indeed did she perform her self-imposed part, that
not only Louis himself, but the whole Court were thoroughly deceived by
the stratagem; and meanwhile the unsuspecting Princess became the victim
of the dissembling Queen and her capricious and heartless suitor.[107]
As the Cardinal had laboured to impress upon the King that Marie de
Medicis was anxious to effect the second marriage of her younger son in
order to secure the succession to his children, Louis had arrived in the
capital fully possessed by this idea; and his surprise was consequently
great when he perceived that the Queen-mother resented the projected
alliance as an insult to her own dignity; nor did he hesitate to express
his satisfaction at the misunderstanding which it had caused between
them. His moody brow relaxed; his suspicions were for awhile laid at
rest; and after having devoted some time to the pleasures of the chase,
he once more left the capital and returned to La Rochelle.
On the 16th of October the city, exhausted by famine, and decimated by
the artillery of the royal army, was compelled to capitulate; and on the
30th of the same month it was garrisoned by its conquerors. So soon as a
fitting residence could be prepared for him, Richelieu took up his abode
within its walls; and on the 1st of November the King made a triumphal
entry into the late stronghold of Protestantism in France, whose
subjugation had cost the lives of upwards of forty thousand of his
subjects.[108]
La Rochelle was no sooner in possession of the royal forces than the
Cardinal determined to protect Mantua against the aggression of Austria,
a measure which he proposed in the Council, where it met with
considerable opposition. Richelieu, however, persisted in his purpose,
alleging that he had pledged himself to the Italian states to come to
their support immediately that the campaign against the reformed party
should have been successfully concluded; and he even urged the King to
head the army in person. Louis, who was naturally brave, and who,
moreover, prided himself upon his prowess in the field, and loved to
contrast it with the pusillanimity of Philip IV of Spain, whose person
was scarcely known to his troops, listened eagerly to the suggestion;
but it was peculiarly obnoxious to Marie de Medicis, who did not fail to
declare that the sole object of the Cardinal was to separate her from
the King, and thus to weaken her influence. She consequently opposed the
project with all the energy of her naturally impetuous character,
asserting that her tenderness as a mother would not permit of her
consenting thus constantly to see her son exposed to the vicissitudes of
war, or his feeble health overtaxed by exertions and fatigues to which
he was unequal.
The Cardinal listened to her representations with an impassibility as
respectful as it was unbending. He had no faith in the reasons which she
advanced, although he verbally accepted them, for the time had not yet
arrived when he could openly brave her power; but it was at this period
that the moral struggle commenced between them of which the unfortunate
Queen was destined to become the victim.[109]
The exultation of Louis XIII at the fall of La Rochelle was considerably
lessened by a violent attack of gout which immediately succeeded, and by
which he was detained a prisoner within its gates until the 19th of
November, when he departed for Limours, where he was met by the two
Queens and Monsieur. Thence the Court proceeded to St. Germain in order
to enjoy the diversion of hunting, and subsequently to Versailles, to
await the completion of the ceremonial of the solemn and triumphal entry
of the King into his capital, which took place on the 23rd of December
with great pomp and magnificence. All the approaches to the city were
crowded by dense masses of the population of the adjacent country, while
the streets were thronged with the citizens who rent the air with
acclamations. Triumphal arches were erected at intervals along the road
by which the royal procession was to travel; the balconies of the houses
were draped with silks and tapestry; and nearly eight thousand men,
splendidly armed and clothed, awaited the King a league beyond the gates
in order to escort him to his capital. The Parliament, and all the
municipal bodies, harangued him as he reached the walls, and exhausted
themselves in the most fulsome and servile flatteries; and finally, he
received the congratulations of all the foreign ambassadors, as well as
the compliments of the Papal Nuncio, by whom he was exhorted in the name
of the Pope to persist in the great work which he had so gloriously
commenced, until he had accomplished the entire extermination of the
Protestants of France.[110]
FOOTNOTES:
[90] Lingard, vol. ix. p. 326.
[91] Mézeray, vol. xi. pp. 283, 286.
[92] Motteville, _Mém_. vol. i. p. 342 _note_.
[93] _Mercure Français_, 1625. Siri, _Mém. Rec_. vol. v, pp. 849, 850.
[94] Brienne, _Mém_. vol. i. p. 422.
[95] Sismondi, vol. xxiii. pp. 14, 15. Capefigue (Richelieu, Mazarin,
etc.), vol. iv. p. 8.
[96] Henri de Talleyrand, Prince de Chalais, was a younger son of the
illustrious house of Talleyrand, whose personal attractions had secured
to him the favour of Louis XIII, by whom he was appointed Grand Master
of the Wardrobe.
[97] Mézeray, vol. xi. pp. 317-319.
[98] Sismondi, vol. xxiii. pp. 21, 22. Bassompierre, _Mém_. vol. iii. p.
56. Brienne, _Mém_. vol. i. p. 432. Gaston, Duc d'Orléans, _Mém_. vol.
i. p. 56. Le Vassor, vol. v. pp. 471-500.
[99] Capefigue, vol. iv. p. 34.
[100] Sismondi, vol. xxiii. p. 22. Capefigue, vol. iv. p. 35.
Bassompierre, _Mém_. vol. iii. p. 57.
[101] Capefigue, vol. i. pp. 324-327. Bassompierre, _Mém_. vol. iii. pp.
60-76.
[102] Mézeray, vol. xi. p. 334.
[103] _Mercure Français_, 1627.
[104] Louis de Marillac was Gentleman in ordinary of the Bedchamber to
Henri IV, and greatly distinguished himself by his valour alike under
that sovereign and his successor Louis XIII. He was created Marshal of
France in 1629; and was arrested in the camp of Felizzo, in Piedmont, in
1632, for having, as was asserted, volunteered to assassinate Richelieu
with his own hand, when he voted against him in the assembly known as
the "Day of Dupes." On the 8th of May in the same year he was condemned
to lose his head; a sentence which was carried into execution in the
Place de Grève; but his character was subsequently vindicated by a
decree of the Parliament after the death of the Cardinal.
[105] Mézeray, vol. xi. pp. 338, 339.
[106] Charles, Duc de Nevers, succeeded Vincent II, Duke of Mantua, who,
dying without issue on the 24th of December 1628, solemnly appointed
him his heir.
[107] Le Vassor, vol. v. p. 736. Mézeray, vol. xi. p. 339. Gaston
d'Orléans, _Mém_. édit. Petitot, vol. xxxi. p. 86. Sismondi, vol. xxiii.
pp. 60, 61.
[108] Mézeray, vol. xi. pp. 355-357.
[109] Sismondi, vol. xxiii. p. 94.
[110] Le Vassor, vol. v. pp. 907, 908.