I now renewed my application for leave to go to the King my husband,
which I continued to press on every opportunity. The King, perceiving
that he could not refuse my leave any longer, was willing I should
depart satisfied. He had this further view in complying with my
wishes, that by this means he should withdraw me from my attachment
to my brother. He therefore strove to oblige me in every way he
could think of, and, to fulfil the promise made by the Queen
my mother at the Peace of Sens, he gave me an assignment of my
portion in territory, with the power of nomination to all vacant
benefices and all offices; and, over and above the customary
pension to the daughters of France, he gave another out of his
privy purse.
He daily paid me a visit in my apartment, in which he took occasion
to represent to me how useful his friendship would be to me; whereas
that of my brother could be only injurious,--with arguments of
the like kind.
However, all he could say was insufficient to prevail on me to
swerve from the fidelity I had vowed to observe to my brother.
The King was able to draw from me no other declaration than this:
that it ever was, and should be, my earnest wish to see my brother
firmly established in his gracious favour, which he had never
appeared to me to have forfeited; that I was well assured he
would exert himself to the utmost to regain it by every act of
duty and meritorious service; that, with respect to myself, I
thought I was so much obliged to him for the great honour he
did me by repeated acts of generosity, that he might be assured,
when I was with the King my husband I should consider myself
bound in duty to obey all such commands as he should be pleased
to give me; and that it would be my whole study to maintain the
King my husband in a submission to his pleasure.
My brother was now on the point of leaving Alençon to go to Flanders;
the Queen my mother was desirous to see him before his departure.
I begged the King to permit me to take the opportunity of
accompanying her to take leave of my brother, which he granted;
but, as it seemed, with great unwillingness. When we returned
from Alençon, I solicited the King to permit me to take leave of
himself, as I had everything prepared for my journey. The Queen
my mother being desirous to go to Gascony, where her presence was
necessary for the King's service, was unwilling that I should
depart without her. When we left Paris, the King accompanied us
on the way as far as his palace of Dolinville. There we stayed
with him a few days, and there we took our leave, and in a little
time reached Guienne, which belonging to, and being under the
government of the King my husband, I was everywhere received as
Queen. My husband gave the Queen my mother a meeting at Réolle,
which was held by the Huguenots as a cautionary town; and the
country not being sufficiently quieted, she was permitted to
go no further.
It was the intention of the Queen my mother to make but a short
stay; but so many accidents arose from disputes betwixt the Huguenots
and Catholics, that she was under the necessity of stopping there
eighteen months. As this was very much against her inclination,
she was sometimes inclined to think there was a design to keep
her, in order to have the company of her maids of honour. For my
husband had been greatly smitten with Dayelle, and M. de Thurène
was in love with La Vergne. However, I received every mark of
honour and attention from the King that I could expect or desire.
He related to me, as soon as we met, the artifices which had
been put in practice whilst he remained at Court to create a
misunderstanding betwixt him and me; all this, he said, he knew
was with a design to cause a rupture betwixt my brother and him,
and thereby ruin us all three, as there was an exceeding great
jealousy entertained of the friendship which existed betwixt
us.
We remained in the disagreeable situation I have before described
all the time the Queen my mother stayed in Gascony; but, as soon
as she could reestablish peace, she, by desire of the King my
husband, removed the King's lieutenant, the Marquis de Villars,
putting in his place the Maréchal de Biron. She then departed
for Languedoc, and we conducted her to Castelnaudary; where,
taking our leave, we returned to Pau, in Béarn; in which place,
the Catholic religion not being tolerated, I was only allowed
to have mass celebrated in a chapel of about three or four feet
in length, and so narrow that it could scarcely hold seven or
eight persons. During the celebration of mass, the bridge of
the castle was drawn up to prevent the Catholics of the town
and country from coming to assist at it; who having been, for
some years, deprived of the benefit of following their own mode
of worship, would have gladly been present. Actuated by so holy
and laudable a desire, some of the inhabitants of Pau, on
Whit-sunday, found means to get into the castle before the bridge
was drawn up, and were present at the celebration of mass, not
being discovered until it was nearly over. At length the Huguenots
espied them, and ran to acquaint Le Pin, secretary to the King
my husband, who was greatly in his favour, and who conducted
the whole business relating to the new religion. Upon receiving
this intelligence, Le Pin ordered the guard to arrest these poor
people, who were severely beaten in my presence, and afterwards
locked up in prison, whence they were not released without paying
a considerable fine.
This indignity gave me great offence, as I never expected anything
of the kind. Accordingly, I complained of it to the King my husband,
begging him to give orders for the release of these poor Catholics,
who did not deserve to be punished for coming to my chapel to hear
mass, a celebration of which they had been so long deprived of
the benefit. Le Pin, with the greatest disrespect to his master,
took upon him to reply, without waiting to hear what the King had
to say. He told me that I ought not to trouble the King my husband
about such matters; that what had been done was very right and
proper; that those people had justly merited the treatment they
met with, and all I could say would go for nothing, for it must
be so; and that I ought to rest satisfied with being permitted
to have mass said to me and my servants. This insolent speech
from a person of his inferior condition incensed me greatly,
and I entreated the King my husband, if I had the least share in
his good graces, to do me justice, and avenge the insult offered
me by this low man.
The King my husband, perceiving that I was offended, as I had
reason to be, with this gross indignity, ordered Le Pin to quit
our presence immediately; and, expressing his concern at his
secretary's behaviour, who, he said, was overzealous in the cause
of religion, he promised that he would make an example of him.
As to the Catholic prisoners, he said he would advise with his
parliament what ought to be done for my satisfaction.
Having said this, he went to his closet, where he found Le Pin,
who, by dint of persuasion, made him change his resolution; insomuch
that, fearing I should insist upon his dismissing his secretary,
he avoided meeting me. At last, finding that I was firmly resolved
to leave him, unless he dismissed Le Pin, he took advice of some
persons, who, having themselves a dislike to the secretary,
represented that he ought not to give me cause of displeasure
for the sake of a man of his small importance,--especially one
who, like him, had given me just reason to be offended; that,
when it became known to the King my brother and the Queen my
mother, they would certainly take it ill that he had not only
not resented it, but, on the contrary, still kept him near his
person.
This counsel prevailed with him, and he at length discarded his
secretary. The King, however, continued to behave to me with
great coolness, being influenced, as he afterwards confessed,
by the counsel of M. de Pibrac, who acted the part of a double
dealer, telling me that I ought not to pardon an affront offered
by such a mean fellow, but insist upon his being dismissed; whilst
he persuaded the King my husband that there was no reason for
parting with a man so useful to him, for such a trivial cause.
This was done by M. de Pibrac, thinking I might be induced, from
such mortifications, to return to France, where he enjoyed the
offices of president and King's counsellor.
I now met with a fresh cause for disquietude in my present situation,
for, Dayelle being gone, the King my husband placed his affections
on Rebours. She was an artful young person, and had no regard
for me; accordingly, she did me all the ill offices in her power
with him. In the midst of these trials, I put my trust in God,
and he, moved with pity by my tears, gave permission for our
leaving Pau, that "little Geneva;" and, fortunately for me, Rebours
was taken ill and stayed behind. The King my husband no sooner
lost sight of her than he forgot her; he now turned his eyes
and attention towards Fosseuse. She was much handsomer than the
other, and was at that time young, and really a very amiable
person.
Pursuing the road to Montauban, we stopped at a little town called
Eause, where, in the night, the King my husband was attacked
with a high fever, accompanied with most violent pains in his
head. This fever lasted for seventeen days, during which time he
had no rest night or day, but was continually removed from one
bed to another. I nursed him the whole time, never stirring from
his bedside, and never putting off my clothes. He took notice of
my extraordinary tenderness, and spoke of it to several persons,
and particularly to my cousin M----, who, acting the part of
an affectionate relation, restored me to his favour, insomuch
that I never stood so highly in it before. This happiness I had
the good fortune to enjoy during the four or five years that
I remained with him in Gascony.
Our residence, for the most part of the time I have mentioned,
was at Nérac, where our Court was so brilliant that we had no
cause to regret our absence from the Court of France. We had
with us the Princesse de Navarre, my husband's sister, since
married to the Duc de Bar; there were besides a number of ladies
belonging to myself. The King my husband was attended by a numerous
body of lords and gentlemen, all as gallant persons as I have
seen in any Court; and we had only to lament that they were
Huguenots. This difference of religion, however, caused no dispute
among us; the King my husband and the Princess his sister heard
a sermon, whilst I and my servants heard mass. I had a chapel in
the park for the purpose, and, as soon as the service of both
religions was over, we joined company in a beautiful garden,
ornamented with long walks shaded with laurel and cypress trees.
Sometimes we took a walk in the park on the banks of the river,
bordered by an avenue of trees three thousand yards in length.
The rest of the day was passed in innocent amusements; and in
the afternoon, or at night, we commonly had a ball.
The King was very assiduous with Fosseuse, who, being dependent on
me, kept herself within the strict bounds of honour and virtue. Had
she always done so, she had not brought upon herself a misfortune
which has proved of such fatal consequence to myself as well as
to her.
But our happiness was too great to be of long continuance, and
fresh troubles broke out betwixt the King my husband and the
Catholics, and gave rise to a new war. The King my husband and
the Maréchal de Biron, who was the King's lieutenant in Guienne,
had a difference, which was aggravated by the Huguenots. This
breach became in a short time so wide that all my efforts to
close it were useless. They made their separate complaints to
the King. The King my husband insisted on the removal of the
Maréchal de Biron, and the Marshal charged the King my husband,
and the rest of those who were of the pretended reformed religion,
with designs contrary to peace. I saw, with great concern, that
affairs were likely soon to come to an open rupture; and I had
no power to prevent it.
The Marshal advised the King to come to Guienne himself, saying
that in his presence matters might be settled. The Huguenots,
hearing of this proposal, supposed the King would take possession
of their towns, and, thereupon, came to a resolution to take
up arms. This was what I feared; I was become a sharer in the
King my husband's fortune, and was now to be in opposition to
the King my brother and the religion I had been bred up in. I
gave my opinion upon this war to the King my husband and his
Council, and strove to dissuade them from engaging in it. I
represented to them the hazards of carrying on a war when they
were to be opposed against so able a general as the Maréchal de
Biron, who would not spare them, as other generals had done,
he being their private enemy. I begged them to consider that, if
the King brought his whole force against them, with intention
to exterminate their religion, it would not be in their power
to oppose or prevent it. But they were so headstrong, and so
blinded with the hope of succeeding in the surprise of certain
towns in Languedoc and Gascony, that, though the King did me the
honour, upon all occasions, to listen to my advice, as did most
of the Huguenots, yet I could not prevail on them to follow it
in the present situation of affairs, until it was too late, and
after they had found, to their cost, that my counsel was good.
The torrent was now burst forth, and there was no possibility of
stopping its course until it had spent its utmost strength.
Before that period arrived, foreseeing the consequences, I had
often written to the King and the Queen my mother, to offer something
to the King my husband by way of accommodating matters. But they
were bent against it, and seemed to be pleased that matters had
taken such a turn, being assured by Maréchal de Biron that he
had it in his power to crush the Huguenots whenever he pleased.
In this crisis my advice was not attended to, the dissensions
increased, and recourse was had to arms.
The Huguenots had reckoned upon a force more considerable than
they were able to collect together, and the King my husband found
himself outnumbered by Maréchal de Biron. In consequence, those of
the pretended reformed religion failed in all their plans, except
their attack upon Cahors, which they took with petards, after
having lost a great number of men,--M. de Vezins, who commanded in
the town, disputing their entrance for two or three days, from
street to street, and even from house to house. The King my husband
displayed great valour and conduct upon the occasion, and showed
himself to be a gallant and brave general. Though the Huguenots
succeeded in this attempt, their loss was so great that they
gained nothing from it. Maréchal de Biron kept the field, and
took every place that declared for the Huguenots, putting all
that opposed him to the sword.
From the commencement of this war, the King my husband doing
me the honour to love me, and commanding me not to leave him, I
had resolved to share his fortune, not without extreme regret,
in observing that this war was of such a nature that I could not,
in conscience, wish success to either side; for if the Huguenots
got the upper hand, the religion which I cherished as much as
my life was lost, and if the Catholics prevailed, the King my
husband was undone. But, being thus attached to my husband, by
the duty I owed him, and obliged by the attentions he was pleased
to show me, I could only acquaint the King and the Queen my mother
with the situation to which I was reduced, occasioned by my advice
to them not having been attended to. I, therefore, prayed them,
if they could not extinguish the flames of war in the midst of
which I was placed, at least to give orders to Maréchal de Biron
to consider the town I resided in, and three leagues round it,
as neutral ground, and that I would get the King my husband to
do the same. This the King granted me for Nérac, provided my
husband was not there; but if he should enter it, the neutrality
was to cease, and so to remain as long as he continued there. This
convention was observed, on both sides, with all the exactness I
could desire. However, the King my husband was not to be prevented
from often visiting Nérac, which was the residence of his sister
and me. He was fond of the society of ladies, and, moreover, was
at that time greatly enamoured with Fosseuse, who held the place
in his affections which Rebours had lately occupied. Fosseuse did
me no ill offices, so that the King my husband and I continued to
live on very good terms, especially as he perceived me unwilling
to oppose his inclinations.
Led by such inducements, he came to Nérac, once, with a body
of troops, and stayed three days, not being able to leave the
agreeable company he found there. Maréchal de Biron, who wished
for nothing so much as such an opportunity, was apprised of it,
and, under pretence of joining M. de Cornusson, the seneschal of
Toulouse, who was expected with a reinforcement for his army,
he began his march; but, instead of pursuing the road, according
to the orders he had issued, he suddenly ordered his troops to
file off towards Nérac, and, before nine in the morning, his
whole force was drawn up within sight of the town, and within
cannonshot of it.
The King my husband had received intelligence, the evening before,
of the expected arrival of M. de Cornusson, and was desirous of
preventing the junction, for which purpose he resolved to attack
him and the Marshal separately. As he had been lately joined
by M. de La Rochefoucauld, with a corps of cavalry consisting
of eight hundred men, formed from the nobility of Saintonge,
he found himself sufficiently strong to undertake such a plan.
He, therefore, set out before break of day to make his attack
as they crossed the river. But his intelligence did not prove
to be correct, for De Cornusson passed it the evening before.
My husband, being thus disappointed in his design, returned to
Nérac, and entered at one gate just as Maréchal de Biron drew
up his troops before the other. There fell so heavy a rain at
that moment that the musketry was of no use. The King my husband,
however, threw a body of his troops into a vineyard to stop the
Marshal's progress, not being able to do more on account of the
unfavourableness of the weather.
In the meantime, the Marshal continued with his troops drawn up
in order of battle, permitting only two or three of his men to
advance, who challenged a like number to break lances in honour
of their mistresses. The rest of the army kept their ground, to
mask their artillery, which, being ready to play, they opened
to the right and left, and fired seven or eight shots upon the
town, one of which struck the palace. The Marshal, having done
this, marched off, despatching a trumpeter to me with his excuse.
He acquainted me that, had I been alone, he would on no account
have fired on the town; but the terms of neutrality for the town,
agreed upon by the King, were, as I well knew, in case the King
my husband should not be found in it, and, if otherwise, they
were void. Besides which, his orders were to attack the King
my husband wherever he should find him.
I must acknowledge on every other occasion the Marshal showed me
the greatest respect, and appeared to be much my friend. During
the war my letters have frequently fallen into his hands, when
he as constantly forwarded them to me unopened. And whenever my
people have happened to be taken prisoners by his army, they
were always well treated as soon as they mentioned to whom they
belonged.
I answered his message by the trumpeter, saying that I well knew
what he had done was strictly agreeable to the convention made
and the orders he had received, but that a gallant officer like
him would know how to do his duty without giving his friends
cause of offence; that he might have permitted me the enjoyment
of the King my husband's company in Nérac for three days, adding,
that he could not attack him, in my presence, without attacking
me; and concluding that, certainly, I was greatly offended by
his conduct, and would take the first opportunity of making my
complaint to the King my brother.