1611
A cold correspondence--Increasing influence of the Marquis d'Ancre--
Animosity between the Duc d'Epernon and Concini--Disunion of the Princes
de Guise and de Lorraine--Renewed dissensions between M. de Bellegarde
and the Marquis d'Ancre--They are reconciled by the Comte de
Soissons--Marriage of the Duc de Guise--Jealousy of M. de Soissons
--Quarrel between the Prince de Conti and the Comte de Soissons--
Mission of the Duc de Guise--A new rupture--Intervention of the Duc de
Mayenne--Alarm of the Regent--Sully leaves Paris--Madame de
Sully--Retirement of M. de Thou--Unpopularity of the Duc d'Epernon
--Marie de Medicis endeavours to reconcile the Princes--The royal
closet--The Protestants prepare for the General Assembly--The Prince de
Condé retires to Guienne--The Duc d'Epernon is charged to watch his
movements--Arrogance of Concini--Concini seeks to marry his daughter to
a son of the Comte de Soissons--Indignation of the Prince--Cunning of
Concini--Bouillon returns to Court--He offers his services to the Regent
at the General Assembly--He proceeds to Saumur--He desires to be
appointed President of the Assembly--He is rejected in favour of M. du
Plessis-Mornay--He attributes his defeat to Sully--He resolves to
conciliate the ex-Minister of Finance--Meeting of the Assembly--The
Court determines to dissolve the meeting--Prudence of Du Plessis-Mornay
--Death of M. de Créquy--The Marquis d'Ancre succeeds to the government
of Amiens--His insolent disregard of the royal prerogative--Indignation
of the ministers--The Regent resents his impertinence--She refuses to
receive Madame d'Ancre--Intrigues of the Princesse de Conti--The
favourites forgiven--Marie de Medicis issues several salutary
edicts--Court festivities--The Duchesse de Lorraine arrives at
Fontainebleau--Death of the Duc de Mayenne--Death of the Queen of
Spain--The Duchesse de Lorraine claims the hand of Louis XIII for her
daughter--Death of the Duc d'Orléans--Departure of the Duchesse de
Lorraine--Rival claims--M. de Brèves appointed preceptor to the Duc
d'Anjou--The Comte de Soissons applies for the duchy of Alençon--Rebuke
of the Regent--A hunting-party--A new cabal--Recall of the Maréchal de
Lesdiguières--Marie de Medicis purchases the Hôtel de Luxembourg.
The first political event worthy of record which occurred in France at
the commencement of the year 1611 was the retirement of the Duc de
Sully; who, on the 24th of January, received the reply of the Regent to
the letter in which he had solicited her permission to withdraw from the
Government. It contained a faintly-expressed regret at the resolution he
had taken; "but that," as he himself says, "was merely for form's sake;"
[98] and the accuracy of his judgment is evidenced by the fact that only
two days after he had again written to declare that his determination
was unalterable, the Duc de Bouillon delivered to him the official
warrants by which he was discharged from his duties of Superintendent of
Finance, and Captain of the Bastille. These were worded in the most
flattering terms; and he was guaranteed against all inquiry or annoyance
upon either subject from the day in which he resigned his tenure of
office. A third warrant was, moreover, added, by which, in consideration
of his past services, the Queen bestowed upon him the sum of three
hundred thousand livres; and a few days subsequently he received letters
from the King and the Regent authorizing him to transfer the command of
the Bastille to M. de Châteauvieux;[99] which he had no sooner done than
he turned all his attention to the final arrangement of his public
accounts, in order that he might, with as little delay as possible, be
enabled to quit the capital.[100]
The transfer of the Bastille was shortly afterwards followed by that
of the ministry of finance, which was placed under the joint
direction of M. de Châteauneuf[101] and the Presidents de Thou and
de Jeannin; the latter of whom was, however, invested with the rank of
Comptroller-General, which gave him the entire management of the public
funds, to the exclusion of his colleagues, who were in consequence only
eligible to assist in the official distribution of the public monies.
The charge of Grand Master of the Artillery, which was resigned with the
command of the Bastille by Sully, the Regent retained in her own
hands.[102]
From that time the Marquis d'Ancre became pre-eminent at Court; and not
only the ministers, but even the Princes of the Blood themselves, looked
with distrust upon his power over the Queen. Between the Italian
favourite and the Duc d'Epernon especially, a feeling of hatred had
grown up, which, although as yet veiled by the policy for which each was
so distinguished, only awaited a fitting opportunity to reveal itself on
both sides; and the struggle for power was not the less resolute because
it was carried on amid smiles and courtesies. Meanwhile, also, the
Princes de Guise and de Lorraine evinced symptoms of disunion, which
threatened the most serious consequences; and amid all this chaos of
conflicting interests and passions the royal authority was treated with
contempt, and Marie began to tremble for the stability of her
regency.[103]
Early in the month Concini entered upon his duties as First Lord of the
Bedchamber, and had a serious misunderstanding with the Duc de
Bellegarde, who refused to allow him to take possession of the
apartments in the Louvre set aside for the person holding that rank
during the year in which he was on duty, on the pretext that the
Marquise his wife being already lodged in the palace, he had no right to
claim any further accommodation. Concini insisted on the privilege of
his office, upon which M. le Grand, to whom he had become hateful from
his arrogance and pretension, retorted in a manner which excited his
temper; and high and bitter words were exchanged that threatened the
most serious results, when the Italian, suddenly recollecting that he
was exasperating by his violence an enemy too powerful for him to
contend against without support, declared that he would pursue the
quarrel no further in person, but would place his honour in the hands of
the Comte de Soissons, and abide by his decision. Against such a
determination M. de Bellegarde had, of course, nothing to urge; and the
Italian forthwith requested the Marquis de Coeuvres, in whom M. de
Soissons had great confidence, to represent the affair to that Prince,
and to assure him that he would be entirely governed by his advice.
The Duc d'Epernon, delighted to find that Concini had made a new enemy,
strenuously exerted himself to induce M. le Grand to maintain his
ground, a counsel which the latter was well disposed to follow; but the
Comte de Soissons, who was anxious to secure the influence of the
Italian Marquis that he might the more readily effect the marriage of
his son, eagerly embraced so favourable an opportunity of purchasing his
good offices; and consequently represented in stringent terms to his
opponent the utter impracticability of refusing to concede to M. d'Ancre
the same consideration and indulgence which had been enjoyed by his
predecessors in office, together with the danger that he personally
incurred by so gratuitously offending an individual protected by the
Regent. Whatever additional arguments he may have advanced, it is
impossible to decide; suffice it that the Duke yielded, the quarrel was
terminated, and Concini established in the coveted apartments; at which
his gratification was so unmeasured that he pledged himself to M. de
Soissons to induce the ministers to consent to the union of the Comte
d'Enghien with the heiress of Montpensier, as well as to exert himself
in preventing the marriage of the Duc de Guise and the Duchess her
mother.[104]
On the 5th of January the marriage of the Duc de Guise and the Duchesse
de Montpensier was, however, celebrated by the Cardinal de Joyeuse at
the early hour of four in the morning, in the chapel attached to the
hôtel of the lady; an arrangement which was in all probability caused by
the opposition made to this alliance by the Comte de Soissons, who,
still anticipating a union between his son and the daughter of the
Duchess, was apprehensive that Madame de Montpensier might be induced to
enrich the family of which she thus became a member with no
inconsiderable portion of the wealth which must otherwise form part of
the property of the young heiress.
Only three days subsequently, while the Court were still occupied with
the festivities which took place on the occasion, the Prince de Conti
and his brother M. de Soissons, who was on his way to the Louvre,
unfortunately met in a narrow street leading to the Cross of Trahoir,
when it had become so dark that it was impossible to distinguish the
appointments or liveries of either equipage; and the carriages were no
sooner entangled than the coachman of the Comte, ignorant of the rank of
his opponent, compelled the servants of the Prince to make way, an
insult which he resented with a bitterness that induced him to refuse
the apology subsequently proffered by his brother.[105]
Alarmed by this new feud, the Queen requested the Duc de Guise to see
the Prince de Conti, and to beseech him to effect a reconciliation with
his turbulent brother, a mission which the young Duke cheerfully
undertook; but it unfortunately happened that in order to reach the
Abbey of St. Germain, where M. de Conti was then residing, it was
necessary for him to pass beside the Hôtel de Soissons, which he
accordingly did, followed by a retinue of thirty horsemen. This
circumstance was construed into a premeditated insult by the Count, who
immediately assembled his friends, and informed them that he had been
braved in his own house by the Duc de Guise; whose adherents had no
sooner ascertained that there was an assemblage hostile to his interests
forming at the Hôtel de Soissons, than they in their turn flocked in
such numbers to afford him their support that in a short time more than
a thousand nobles were collected under his roof.
When this fact was communicated to M. de Soissons he sent to request
that the Prince de Condé would accompany him to the Louvre, to demand
from the Regent that she should afford them satisfaction for the
insolence of the Duc de Guise; who, when summoned to explain his motives
for inflicting an affront upon the Count, simply and calmly replied that
he had never sought to insult M. de Soissons; but had, in obedience to
the command of her Majesty, been compelled to pass an angle of his
hôtel, which he had moreover done without a demonstration of any
description, and accompanied only by the escort suitable to his rank.
That his sincere anxiety had been to second the wishes of her Majesty;
and that so far from seeking to envenom an unfortunate misunderstanding
which could only tend to involve the Court in new disorder, he had from
the first moment resolved not to offer an opinion upon the merits of the
feud; a determination to which he still meant to adhere.
This manly declaration in no degree softened the ire of the Count; who,
enchanted at having discovered an opportunity of annoying and harassing
M. de Guise during the first week of his marriage, retorted in a manner
which impelled the Queen to request that each would retire to his hôtel;
and to express at the same time her earnest hope that a little calm
reflection would induce the disputants to become reconciled.
The quarrel was nevertheless sustained throughout the whole of that and
the following day; and so great was the commotion which it excited in
the capital that the Regent, apprehending its result, considered it
necessary to order that chains should be in readiness to be stretched
across the streets, and that the citizens should be prepared to take up
arms at a moment's notice. On the morrow new efforts were made to pacify
the irritated parties, but all having alike failed, a detachment of the
royal guard was stationed near the person of each of the Princes in
order to ensure his safety.[106]
Meanwhile the Queen requested of M. de Guise, by a confidential
messenger, that he would wait upon the Comte de Soissons, and apologize
for having inadvertently given him offence; a proposition to which he
readily consented; feeling that such was in reality the case, and that
the rank of the Count as a Prince of the Blood demanded this concession.
Previously, however, to putting his design into execution, he informed
the Duc de Mayenne of the promise which he had made to comply with the
desire of the Regent, when he was instantly and vehemently dissuaded
from his purpose; M. de Mayenne representing that being himself the
party aggrieved by the groundless accusation brought against him, he
could not, without impairing the dignity due to his position, personally
declare his regret for an act which he had never committed. He then
counselled the Duke to place the affair in his hands, alleging with a
sophistry which it is difficult to reconcile with reason that an apology
made for him, instead of by him, would at once answer every purpose, and
spare his own pride.
M. de Guise, who throughout the whole transaction would appear to have
been impatient to rid himself of all trouble and annoyance, and
consequently careless by what means it was terminated, readily accepted
the offer; and the Duc de Mayenne accordingly repaired to the palace,
where he informed the Queen that he was authorized by his nephew to
offer his excuses for the displeasure which he had unconsciously given
to his Highness the Comte de Soissons; to which he begged to add the
assurance that the House of Guise, individually and collectively, were
desirous to live upon terms of friendship and courtesy with the Count,
if he would accept their advances in the same spirit.[107]
Delighted by the prospect of restored peace, Marie made no comment upon
the fact that the Duc de Guise had failed to fulfil the promise which he
had made of offering his own apology to the Prince. She was terrified by
the anarchy that had grown up about her, and by the facility with which
those who should have been the most earnest supporters of the dignity
and safety of the Crown found means to involve the Court in confusion
and cabals; a fact which moreover tended to place her more completely in
the power of Concini and his wife than would probably ever have been the
case under other circumstances.
On the 14th of January in the present year the Regent, through the
active agency of Concini, gave her solemn consent to the marriage of the
Comte d'Enghien with Mademoiselle de Montpensier, despite the opposition
of the Cardinal de Joyeuse, the Duc d'Epernon, and a number of the Court
nobles, who were alarmed at the prospect of so close an alliance between
M. de Soissons and the Duc de Guise.
The next event of interest was the final departure of M. de Sully from
the capital, who, previously to quitting Paris, returned to the Regent
the warrant for three hundred thousand livres with which she had, as she
declared, sought to repay his past services. The letter by which the
deed was accompanied was, although perfectly respectful, haughty, cold,
and resolute: nor did the Duke make an effort to disguise from her that
the onerous duties which he had performed to the late monarch, to the
nation, and to herself, could not be repaid by an order upon the royal
treasury; while his retirement was voluntary, and not intended to be
contingent on any such arrangement. The Court gossips made merry over an
altercation which they declared to have taken place between the Duke and
Duchess on the occasion of this transaction; Madame de Sully, whose
vanity was wounded by the loss of dignity and influence consequent on
the retirement of her husband, considering this additional pecuniary
sacrifice alike idle and uncalled-for, and reproaching him with undue
haughtiness in thus refusing the last favour which the Regent had
desired to confer upon him; and the ex-minister retorting by reminding
her that she, at least, had no cause for complaint, since from the
obscure condition of the daughter of a petty lawyer he had elevated her
to the rank of a Duchess, and made her the companion of Princes.[108]
When the dismissal of Sully had been decided, it will be remembered that
De Thou was one of those appointed to succeed him in his office as a
director of finance. The appointment was not, however, accepted; M. de
Harlay, fatigued and disgusted by the intrigues which daily grew up
about him, being anxious to resign his office of First President of the
Parliament, which had previously been held by Christophe de Thou, to a
son so worthy of inheriting his honours. The younger De Thou was,
moreover, his brother-in-law, and he anticipated no difficulty in
transferring his charge to that minister. Even to the last he was,
however, fated to disappointment; for not only was this nomination
opposed by the Pope, but Villeroy, who desired to see the place bestowed
upon one of his own adherents, had sufficient influence with the Regent
to induce her to confer it upon M. de Verdun, over whom he possessed an
unlimited control.[109]
This affront so deeply wounded M. de Thou that he resigned the office
which he had previously held, and even refused to obey the summons of
the Regent, conveyed to him through the Marquis d'Ancre; alleging that
she had treated him with so much disrespect, and had subjected him to
mortification so severe, that he must decline an interview. In vain did
Concini impress upon him that the Queen was willing to allow him to name
his own successor, and to indemnify himself as he considered just; he
would listen to no conditions. To every argument he coldly replied: "She
has treated me ill, and I will not go."
"You are a philosopher," said the Italian sarcastically.
"I had need be one," was the calm retort; "when I consider how I have
been used."
Concini reported the ill-success of his mission, but Marie,
unfortunately blinded by those about her to her real interests, was
indifferent to the just resentment of an able and faithful servant.
"_Non lo farò mai_," was her only remark; and one of the most efficient
and zealous of her ministers was carelessly cast off.[110]
Meanwhile the jealous dissensions of the nobles continued to increase,
and constant quarrels took place between the Cardinal de Joyeuse, the
Comte de Soissons, and the Duc d'Epernon. The latter was, at this
period, detested by all other aspirants to royal favour; his rapid
success at Court had made him insolent; and he advanced such
preposterous claims, and arrogated to himself such an indefeasible right
to the gratitude and indulgence of the Regent, that the Princes of the
Blood took the alarm, and the Prince de Condé and the Comte de Soissons
resolved to effect his disgrace. Concini, as we have already shown, had
long nourished the most bitter resentment against one whom he considered
as a formidable rival in the good graces of the Queen, and he was
consequently induced without difficulty to join in the conspiracy; his
vanity suffering bitterly from the contempt with which he was
ostentatiously treated by the Duke, who was, as the Italian asserted, a
mere gentleman of fortune like himself, until raised to his present rank
by the favour of Henri III, a favour as ill-gained as it was
unbecomingly exhibited. M. d'Epernon, with an absence of tact as
astonishing as it was lamentable in a man whose ambition was unbounded,
and who had no party to support his pretensions against the Princes of
the Blood, lent himself meanwhile by his puerile and headstrong folly to
their enmity, by affecting to brave it; and after a sharp altercation
with M. de Soissons, who did not conceal his intention of insulting him
whenever and wherever they might meet, the infatuated Duke, on the
pretext that he considered his personal safety endangered by the menaces
of the Prince, paraded the streets of Paris with a retinue of seven or
eight hundred mounted followers; and occasionally proceeded on foot to
the Louvre, with his guards ranged in order of battle, and in such force
that the van had frequently reached the gates of the palace before the
rear had quitted those of the Hôtel d'Epernon, a distance of two
thousand paces.[111]
This external affectation of almost regal state did not, however,
prevent him from experiencing the most bitter mortification at his
exclusion from all public affairs. He still considered that as he had
been the first to swear fealty, and to place his services at the command
of the Regent, he had a right to retain the supremacy which he had then
assumed; and this arrogant pretension enabled him for a time to support
the daily affronts to which he was subjected; but it soon became
apparent that his position must ere long prove untenable.
The Cardinal de Joyeuse, whose favour depended upon that of the Duc
d'Epernon, having perceived that his credit with the Regent was on the
decline, determined to proceed to Rome. He accordingly took leave of the
King and his mother, and left France; while M. d'Epernon endeavoured to
effect a reconciliation with the Comte de Soissons, an attempt which was
repulsed with resolute coldness on the part of the Prince, who was daily
attaching himself more and more to the interests of Concini.
Early in the spring the Court left Paris for Fontainebleau, accompanied
by all the Princes of the Blood; and during their sojourn in that palace
Marie de Medicis constantly caused M. de Soissons and the Ducs de Guise
and d'Epernon to form her party at _prime_, trusting that constant
companionship, and the equal favour which she was cautious to show to
all, might tend to a general reconciliation.[112]
These efforts on the part of the Regent, however, were of little avail;
individual jealousies and individual interests absorbed all the great
nobles of the Court; and every concession to which they were induced was
purchased at a price, and even then ungraciously yielded. Marie de
Medicis at times lost alike courage and temper under the difficulties by
which she was beset; and on one occasion, when she had retired to her
closet, after having occupied herself for a time with the transaction of
public business, she gave way to a train of thought so agitating and so
painful that she suddenly rose and summoned the ladies of her suite to
her presence. Mesdames de Conti, du Fargis, and de Fervaques hastened
to obey her commands; and as the tapestry fell behind them, the
Queen-mother silently, but with an imperious gesture, motioned them to
be seated. A deep spot of crimson burned on the cheek of Marie, and
there was a harsh glitter in her eye which betrayed the coming storm;
nor was it long ere it burst forth.
"I have asked your presence, Mesdames," she said, fixing a stern look
upon the Princesse de Conti, "when you were each, in all probability,
more pleasantly engaged than in sharing the disquiet and _ennui_ of your
harassed mistress; but, _per Dio!_ the present position of affairs
leaves me no alternative, my own thoughts having become--thanks to those
who should lend their assistance in bearing the grievous burthen which
has been thrust upon me--but sorry companions. The Princes are still
conspiring against my authority, and questioning my acts, as though I
were responsible to each and all of them for the measures which I
consider it expedient to adopt. According to the creed of these
gentlemen, the Regent of France should be but a mere puppet, of which
they, at their good pleasure, may pull the strings. Scarcely have I
recalled them to Court, scarcely have I restored them to favour, than
they organize new cabals excite the nobles to discontent, and breed
discord, alike in the Parliament and among the people. What more can
they require at my hands than what I have already bestowed? The national
treasury is well-nigh exhausted in meeting their demands. Look back an
instant: M. de Condé has, within the last two years, received more than
nine hundred thousand crowns--the Comte de Soissons six hundred
thousand--and MM. de Longueville, d'Epernon, and de Vendôme, two
millions among them! Nor is this all: in contenting them I have been
compelled to lavish enormous sums upon others, who would have considered
themselves aggrieved had they not also shared in my munificence. But let
these proud spirits--who, despite their noble blood and their princely
quality, do not disdain to barter their loyalty for gold--let them
beware lest they urge me beyond my patience. Your brothers and
brothers-in-law, Madame la Princesse, will do well to be warned in time.
They are playing a hazardous game. If they believe that by exhausting
the royal treasury they will succeed in rendering themselves masters of
the kingdom, they are deceived; the Queen-mother watches alike over the
life and the crown of her son. Once more I say, let them be warned in
time; not a plot, not a cabal shall escape my knowledge; and should they
disregard the caution which I now condescend to give them through
yourself, they will learn too late what it is to incur the vengeance of
Marie de Medicis."
The silence of a moment succeeded to this outbreak of impassioned
eloquence; for Madame de Conti, fearful of augmenting the anger of her
royal mistress, ventured no reply; and after a brief struggle with
herself the Queen-mother smoothed her ruffled brow, and forcing a smile
to her still quivering lips, she resumed in an altered tone: "Enough of
this, however; tell me now somewhat of your ballet of last night,
Princesse: you have as yet made no mention of its success."
"I awaited the commands of your Majesty ere I intruded the subject,"
replied Madame de Conti coldly; "its success was all that I
could desire."
"Did the Duc de Guise honour your festival with his presence? He seldom,
as I am aware, encourages our Court frivolities."
"MM. de Condé and de Guise were both among my guests, Madame; and I
could have ill brooked the absence of either."
"Ay, ever together, in feast and feud," murmured Marie bitterly to
herself. "And Bassompierre?" she pursued aloud--"the gallant courtier
who has as many mistresses as I have halberdiers in my bodyguard, and
who creates an atmosphere of gladness about him, be he where he may; was
he as gay and gorgeous as his wont?"
"Your Majesty is probably not aware," replied Madame de Conti with
increased formality, "that M. de Bassompierre has quarrelled with one of
my relatives; a circumstance which deprived me of the honour of his
presence."
"And the Marquis d'Ancre?" demanded the Queen-mother abruptly; "did he
at least partake of your splendid hospitality?"
The cheek of the Princess blanched, and her voice slightly trembled as
she said hurriedly: "M. d'Ancre was on duty, Madame, about the person
of your Majesty, and I did not presume to ask for his absence from
the palace."
"_Veramente, principessa_" exclaimed Marie de Medicis with sudden
vehemence, "you excel yourself to-day! But have a care! My faithful
servants were no meet guests, as it would seem, at a festival in honour
of the House of Guise. Truly your energetic kinsmen are goodly
diplomatists. Not content with conspiring in the Louvre--under the very
roof which shelters their sovereign--they conspire also in their own
palaces, by the glare of tapers as busily as in the shade. Even to the
measure of soft music they can adapt their treasonable practices; and
amid the murmurs of flattery can breathe the whispers of disaffection as
glibly as when closeted together secure from all intrusion. So be it
then; exclude from your glittering _salons_ all those who are the known
adherents of the sovereign and his mother; they will be careful for the
future to repay the courtesy in kind. I have as great a dread of spies
as yourself, Madame de Conti, and henceforward I will profit by the
lesson which you have taught me."
"I can assure your Majesty--" faltered the lady of honour.
"Nay, Princesse," interposed the Queen-mother bitterly, "do not wrong
yourself. Have at least the courage necessary for the personage which
you have seen fit to enact, and believe me that you will need it when
you venture to cope with a Medicis. Florence can also boast of her
diplomatists, and they may chance to prove even more subtle than those
of our good city of Paris. There is a stern and a profitable lesson in
the past should you read it aright."
So saying Marie de Medicis rose from her seat, and with a stately step
walked to a window overlooking the river, where she remained for a
considerable time apparently absorbed by the busy scene beneath her; but
at length she turned slowly towards the three ladies, who had also
risen, and said calmly: "His Majesty is about to visit me. Mesdames du
Fargis and de Fervaques will assist me to receive him. I excuse Madame
de Conti; after the manifold exertions of the past night she must
need repose."
The Princess made the three low curtsies customary on such occasions,
and disappeared behind the tapestried hangings which were held back by
the usher on duty; while the Queen-mother threw herself once more upon
her seat, and burying her face in her hand, again fell into a deep and
bitter reverie.
Meanwhile the Protestants were preparing for the General Assembly, and
the Maréchal de Bouillon proceeded to Sedan, in order to assist at their
deliberations. He had no sooner done this than the Prince de Condé
requested permission to go and take possession of his government of
Guienne, a project which at that particular moment created universal
suspicion, and excited the alarm of Marie, who was apprehensive that he
was about to solicit the support of the reformed party. Under this
impression she exerted all her ingenuity to invent pretexts for delaying
his purpose without awakening his distrust; but they ultimately proved
unavailing, and she found herself compelled to allow him to depart.
At this particular juncture the Duc d'Epernon, irritated by the
persevering avoidance of M. de Soissons, and the covert sarcasms of
Concini, resolved in his turn to absent himself, and to proceed to his
estate at Angoulême, flattering himself that the Regent would be but too
happy to recall him when she discovered how great a blank his departure
must cause at Court. It is moreover probable that he anticipated the
same gratifying impediments which had delayed the journey of the Prince
de Condé; and consequently his disappointment was extreme as he
perceived the pleasure which Marie could not conceal when he mentioned
his wish to retire for a brief interval from the capital. The wound thus
inflicted upon his vanity was, however, soon healed, when, with a
renewal of all her former confidence and condescension, she confessed to
him that no proposition could have been more agreeable to her at that
moment, from her anxiety to secure the services of a friend upon whom
she could rely to keep a zealous watch over the movements of the Prince
de Condé, whose departure had awakened her fears. She then explained the
suspicions she had formed, and gave M. d'Epernon full and ample
instructions for his future guidance, accompanying them with assurances
of her firm reliance upon his attachment and fidelity; thus enabling the
crestfallen courtier, who must otherwise have withdrawn in partial
disgrace, to leave the palace with every mark of favour and
distinction.[113]
The precaution thus taken with regard to M. de Condé proved, however,
supererogatory, the Prince having no further object in view in absenting
himself from the capital than the gratification of that love of personal
splendour and amusement in which he had always indulged whenever an
opportunity presented itself; and thus while the Duc d'Epernon was
watching all his movements with eager and anxious suspicion, M. de Condé
was simply enacting the quasi-sovereign at Bordeaux and the adjacent
cities where he was received with great ceremony, harangued by the
municipal bodies, and surrounded by a petty court composed of all the
nobles of the province.[114]
Concini had watched the departure of the exulting Duc d'Epernon with a
delight as great as his own; the only rival who threatened to
counterbalance his influence was now removed from the immediate sphere
in which he could prove obnoxious to his fortunes, and he soon felt the
effect of his absence in the increased dependence of the Regent upon
himself and his wife. Nor was the result less obvious to all the members
of the Court, who, as their several interests prompted, were either
overjoyed or dismayed at the unconcealed supremacy of the vainglorious
Marquis, whose bearing became more arrogant than ever, and who appeared
at each moment ready to dispute precedency even with the Princes of the
Blood themselves. All bowed before him. He was the only certain channel
of favour and preferment; and whenever, as frequently occurred, some act
of presumption more glaring than usual aroused against him the ire of
the great nobles, the tears and entreaties of his wife always sufficed
to induce the Regent to make new sacrifices for the purpose of ensuring
his impunity.
This imprudence on the part of Marie, although originating, as it
obviously did, in an inclination to maintain that peace at Court of
which she had now learned by bitter experience to appreciate all the
value, increased the evil which it was intended to obviate, the Italian
only seeing in her indulgence a new motive for continuing his moral
aggressions; and thus the evil increased slowly but surely, and the
hatred engendered by the preposterous pretensions of the Marquis
acquired new force, even when all around him appeared to admit his
supremacy, and to bend before his will.
One of the most striking proofs of the power to which he had at this
period attained is afforded by the fact that a nobleman known as a firm
adherent of M. de Soissons, while conversing with the Marquis de
Coeuvres on the subject of the increasing feud between the Princes of
the Blood, suggested that he could perceive no more certain method for
the Count to maintain himself in favour at Court than that he should
effect the marriage of one of his daughters with the son of the Italian
favourite. This project startled the Marquis, who never for an instant
suspected that the proposition could have originated with M. de Soissons
himself; and whose proud ancestral blood boiled within him at the idea
of so close an alliance between one of the first subjects of France and
an adventurer of obscure birth, whose very claim to respectability was
even yet disputed. He was, however, fated to feel even greater surprise
when, a short time subsequently, as both parties were conversing with
the Marquis in the Queen's gallery at Fontainebleau, he heard a third
person openly, and without the slightest hesitation, enter upon the
subject with Concini himself; who, with evident gratification but
affected humility, immediately replied that such an alliance was an
honour to which he could not pretend, but that were it ever to be
seriously proposed to him, he could only reply in the words of Cardinal
Farnese to an individual who suggested to him an arrangement which at
once flattered his self-love and appeared impossible of completion, "_Tu
m'aduli, ma tu mi piaci_." The subject was not pursued, but it was one
not readily to be forgotten by those who were aware that it had been
mooted; and there can be little doubt that the self-esteem of the
Marquis d'Ancre gained fresh force, even from a passing allusion to the
possibility of such an event.
Encouraged, as it would appear, by the brilliant prospect thus opened
up for his son, Concini soon began to think no aggrandizement beyond the
reach of his ambition; and readily overlooking both personal hatred and
political good-faith in the pursuance of his darling passion, it was not
long ere he argued that since a Prince of the Blood had seen fit to
solicit an alliance with himself, he might readily infer that a noble of
inferior rank could not but esteem it as an honour; and accordingly he
commenced a negotiation with the Duc d'Epernon, between whose second
son, the Marquis de la Valette, and his own daughter he desired to
effect a marriage. This proposal was, however, resented as an insult by
the Duke, who was not sparing in his comments upon the insolence of the
Italian adventurer; and so unmeasured were his expressions that his ruin
must have been ensured from that moment, had not a circumstance shortly
afterwards occurred which rendered his services necessary to the Regent.
Before the end of April the Duc de Bouillon returned from Sedan, and
manifested an earnest inclination to devote himself, in so far as his
honour and religious principles would permit him to do so, to the
interests of the Regent during the approaching assembly at Saumur;
adding, moreover, that should the Queen deem his absence from the
meeting desirable, he would remain at Court until it had terminated. So
unexpected a concession highly gratified Marie, who, with many
acknowledgments for his devotion to her cause, referred him to M. de
Villeroy, by whom, his proposal having been demurely considered, it was
declined; the minister being aware that the influence of M. de Bouillon
would be alone able to counteract that of Sully, who, having left the
Court disappointed and dissatisfied, would not fail to profit by so
favourable an opportunity of asserting his power over his
co-religionists. He, moreover, while thanking the Prince for a proof of
loyalty so welcome to the Government, and so important to the sovereign,
hinted that should he succeed in weakening the power of Sully, and in
inducing the Assembly to consent to such terms as could prudently be
conceded, he would confer upon him the government of Poitou, of which it
had been decided to deprive the ex-finance-minister.[115]
This new impulse added fresh energy to the sudden loyalty of M. de
Bouillon, who at once proceeded to Saumur in order to secure his
election as President of the Assembly, a distinction which he declared
to be due to his long services. The Protestant deputies were, however,
by no means inclined to admit his claim, and more than suspicious of his
intentions; and they consequently, despite his undisguised annoyance,
selected for that dignity M. du Plessis-Mornay, the governor of the
city; a circumstance which did not fail to increase the hatred felt by
the Maréchal towards Sully, to whom he immediately attributed the
mortification. Soon made conscious, by the coldness with which his
invectives and threats were received by the principal Huguenot nobles,
that he was only injuring by his unseemly violence the cause he sought
to serve, M. de Bouillon nevertheless resolved to restrain himself, and
to endeavour to effect a good understanding with Sully, whose personal
importance on this occasion was powerfully increased by the influence of
his son-in-law the Duc de Rohan. The Assembly met for the first time in
May, and continued their sittings until September, at which period their
demands and grievances were despatched to the Court, the dismissal of
Sully being indicated as one of the latter.
This fact alarmed the Council, who moreover could not contemplate
without great apprehension the union and perfect understanding which
had, throughout the whole proceedings, characterized the Protestant
leaders, who had taken their usual oath to uphold each other and the
faith which they professed; and who were, as the ministers well knew,
able to redeem their pledge so effectively should they see fit to exert
their power, that any demonstration on their part could not fail to
convulse the nation from one extremity to the other. After considerable
deliberation it was agreed that the only method by which the impending
evil could be averted was to dissolve the Assembly before it could
proceed from words to acts; and accordingly a pretext for this breach of
faith was at once found in the declaration that the King had permitted
the assembling of the reformed party to enable them to select six
individuals, from among whom he might himself nominate two as general
deputies; while at the same time the documents forwarded to the Court
were returned, with an emphatic refusal to make any reply to their
contents until such time as the required nomination had been made. All
opposition, save what must have assumed a decidedly hostile character,
was of course impossible on the part of the Protestants, whose
indignation, loud as it naturally became for a time, was finally
silenced, even if not extinguished, by the calm and dignified eloquence
of the Comte du Plessis-Mornay, who reminded the Assembly that their
first duty as Christians was obedience to the ruling powers.
"Let us separate," said this prudent and right-minded man, as
exclamations of anger and violence resounded on all sides. "Let each, on
leaving this spot, leave also all animosity behind him. We should only
heighten the evil by spreading it through the provinces. Each has
failed, yet each has done well. Let us now endeavour to obtain by
respectful silence and Christian patience what has been refused to our
remonstrances and requests." [116]
A short time subsequently, the death of M. de Créquy, governor of the
town and citadel of Amiens, having taken place, a great number of the
nobles were ambitious to succeed to the vacant dignity, among whom was
the Marquis d'Ancre, whose insatiable ambition grasped at every
opportunity of acquiring honour and advancement. Having confided his
wish upon this subject to M. de Soissons, he was encouraged in his
pretensions by that Prince; and having obtained the royal permission to
absent himself for a time from the Court, he hastened to Picardy,
attended by a hundred horsemen, in order to negotiate the affair with
the entire sanction of the Queen; where, although opposed by the
ministers who were anxious to curb his daily increasing power, he
ultimately succeeded in his attempt.
Nevertheless the objections raised by the Council, not only to his
acquirement of the government, but also to the marriage of his son with
the daughter of M. de Soissons, which had been communicated to them by
the Marquis de Rambouillet,[117] embittered his temper, and determined
him to discover some means of revenging what he considered as an undue
interference with his personal affairs. The extraordinary imprudence of
which he was soon afterwards guilty rendered him, however, for a time
unable to indulge his vindictiveness, and even threatened to involve him
in the disgrace which he was so anxious to see visited upon his
adversaries. In the first place, intoxicated by his newly acquired
dignities, he affected the utmost attachment for M. de Soissons, who had
exerted all his influence in his behalf; and remarked that the
proposition lately made to him by the Prince for an alliance between
their families was no longer so unequal as it had then appeared,
although he was still aware that it would be a great honour conferred
upon himself; but that as the Duc de Longueville was about to marry
another daughter of the Prince, and that their governments were
contiguous, the union of his own son with the sister of the bride might
prove a mutual advantage, and of considerable service to M. de Soissons
himself. This unseemly boast he followed up by a still more flagrant
proof of presumption; for, being anxious to assert his entire authority
over the citadel of Amiens, he entered into a financial treaty with M.
de Rouillac the lieutenant, and M. de Fleury the ensign of the fortress,
and replaced them by adherents of his own, without the sanction of the
Regent; after which he borrowed, on his own responsibility, twelve
thousand livres from the receiver-general of the province for the
payment of his garrison.
Such an unprecedented disregard of the royal prerogative had never
before occurred in France; and it no sooner became known to the
ministers than they hastened to represent it in its most heinous aspect
to the Queen, impressing upon her in no measured terms the danger of
such a precedent, which could not fail to bring contempt upon her
authority, and to introduce disorder into the finances of the nation;
and entreating her to remember that should she sanction an alliance
between the imprudent favourite and a Prince of the Blood, she could no
longer hope to restrain his extravagances. Marie de Medicis was jealous
of her dignity, and moreover fully conscious of the fault which had
been committed by Concini, and her anger was consequently unbounded. In
the first burst of her indignation she refused to see Madame d'Ancre,
whom she accused of having incited her husband to these demonstrations
of disrespect towards herself; and her wrath was skilfully increased by
the Princesse de Conti, who looked upon the favour of the low-born
Leonora with impatience and disgust, and could not desire a more ready
means of ensuring her discredit than that of following up the arguments
of the ministers, of dwelling upon the little respect which had been
shown to the person and privileges of her royal mistress, and of
expatiating on the ruinous effect of so pernicious an example upon the
discontented nobility.
The effect of these frequent and confidential conversations may be
imagined; the mind of the Queen became more and more excited against her
former favourites, while she clung with the tenacity of helplessness to
Madame de Conti, through whose medium the Princes began to hope that
they should at length triumph over the detested Italian. But the sun of
Concini was not destined to set so soon; and although he had fierce
enemies, he still possessed zealous friends; the more zealous, perhaps,
because they had accurately read the character of the Tuscan Princess,
and were well aware that she had so long leant upon others that she had
at last become incapable of perfect self-reliance. Through the medium of
those friends, but undoubtedly still more from the daily and hourly
_ennui_ experienced by Marie herself while thus deprived of the society
of her foster-sister, the pardon of Concini was finally obtained. He was
declared to have erred through ignorance; and a perfect reconciliation
took place which overthrew all the half-fledged projects of the
disappointed courtiers.
Two circumstances alone tended to mitigate the satisfaction of the
Marquis d'Ancre. The representations of the ministers had succeeded in
so thoroughly awakening the apprehensions of the Regent, that she had,
at their first interview, strictly forbidden him thenceforward to
attempt the accomplishment of his anticipated alliance with the House of
Bourbon; while he had found himself compelled to apologize to the Comte
de Soissons for the excesses in which he had indulged in Picardy, and
which had drawn down upon the Prince the resentment, not only of the
Queen herself, but of the whole Council, by whom he was accused of
having upheld the pretensions of the Italian in order to aggrandize his
own daughter.
In the month of July Marie de Medicis bestowed great happiness upon the
whole nation by remitting the arrears of taxes which had remained unpaid
from the year 1597, until that of 1603; while she also, at the same
period, decreed the abolition of the gaming academies to which allusion
was made in the preceding volume; and, finally, ascertaining that the
edict against duelling issued by the late King had been evaded by
certain sophistical observances, she published a declaration setting
forth that all hostile meetings, however arranged, would not only
entail the penalties already denounced against them, but henceforward be
regarded as acts of assassination. This wholesome and well-timed
declaration was verified by the Parliament on the 11th of July, and
great hopes were entertained that so stringent a measure would
effectually terminate an abuse which, during the reign of the late King,
had deprived France of several thousand of her best chivalry.[118]
Throughout the autumn, notwithstanding the gravity of the affairs then
pending, the Court at Fontainebleau was one ceaseless scene of
dissipation. High play still formed a prominent feature in the
amusements of the palace, and the extent to which it was carried may be
estimated by the fact that Concini, before his return to the capital,
had lost at cards and dice the enormous sum of twenty-six thousand
pistoles;[119] and while the _branle_ and the gaming-table occupied the
night, the day was devoted to hunting, a diversion in which the Queen
constantly participated, accompanied by the Princesses and ladies of the
Court, and attended by a suite of between four and five hundred of the
principal nobles. The arrival of the Duchesse de Lorraine and the
Cardinal de Gonzaga[120] gave a new impetus to the gaiety of the royal
circle, while their sumptuous reception at the palace induced new
outlay and new rivalry among the courtiers.[121]
It was in the midst of this splendid dissipation that the Regent
received tidings of the death of the Duc de Mayenne, a loss which, from
the good understanding recently established between herself and that
Prince, was of serious importance to her authority; while the event
produced a still more painful impression from the fact that his wife,
Henrietta of Savoy, had died of grief a few days subsequently, and that
they had been carried to the grave together.
The next news which reached the Court was that of the demise of
Marguerite of Austria, Queen of Spain; an event which, from the recent
treaty concluded between the two countries, had become doubly
interesting to France. This Princess, who was the daughter of Charles,
Archduke of Gratz, Duke of Styria and Carinthia, and of Marie of
Bavaria, had become the wife of Philip III in November 1599; and had
left four sons, viz. Philip, Charles, Ferdinand, and Alfonso; and two
daughters, Anne and Marguerite, the former of whom was promised to
Louis XIII.
Other and more personal interests sufficed, nevertheless, to dry the
tears of the Queen-mother, as at this period the Duchesse de Lorraine
explained the purport of her visit; which, it is asserted, was to induce
her royal niece to redeem the pledge given by her deceased husband that
the Dauphin should espouse the Princesse de Lorraine, who would bring
as her dowry to the young King the duchies of Lorraine and Bar. Marie
was, however, too deeply compromised with Spain as well as with the Pope
and the Grand Duke of Tuscany, both of whom were earnest to effect the
completion of that alliance, to follow up a policy which could not but
have proved much more beneficial to the French nation; while the Condé
de Fuentes, who immediately suspected the purpose of Madame de Lorraine,
loudly and arrogantly asserted that the French King could not have two
wives; that his marriage with the Infanta was concluded; and that his
sovereign was not to be cheated with impunity.[122]
Oppressed by this double weight of regret and anxiety, Marie and her
Court returned to the Louvre; but her grief was still fated to be
fearfully increased, for she had scarcely established herself in the
palace when her maternal terrors were suddenly awakened by intelligence
of the dangerous illness of her second son, the Duc d'Orléans, upon
which she hastened to St. Germain. The fiat had, however, gone forth,
and two days subsequently the little Prince, upon whose precocious
intellect and sweetness of disposition so many hopes had been built up,
was a corpse in his mother's arms; and within a few hours Madame de
Lorraine and her brother had taken leave of their illustrious relative,
while the Court of the Louvre, so lately giddy with gaiety, was once
more draped in sables.[123]
Devotedly attached to her children, the Queen was for a time
inconsolable; her greatness was embittered by private suffering, and her
authority was endangered by intestine broils; she looked around her, and
scarcely knew upon whom to depend, or upon what to lean. The constant
exactions of the Princes convinced her of the utter hopelessness of
satisfying their venality, and securing their allegiance, save by
sacrifices which gradually tended to diminish her own power, and to
compromise the interests of the Crown, while the people murmured at the
burthens inflicted upon them in order to gratify the greed of
the nobility.
To increase her anxiety, the death of her second son was destined to add
to the number of malcontents by whom the Queen was surrounded, all the
principal officers of his household advancing their claim to be
transferred to that of the infant Duc d'Anjou, who, on the demise of the
Duc d'Orléans, assumed the title of Monsieur, as only brother of the
King. It was, however, impossible to place all these candidates about
the person of the young Prince, and it was ultimately decided that M. de
Brèves,[124] a relative of M. de Villeroy, to whom the appointment had
already been promised by Henri IV, should be selected as the preceptor
of Monsieur, to the exclusion of M. de Béthune, who had held the same
post about the Duc d'Orléans, and who consequently demanded to be
transferred to the service of his brother. But the relative of Sully was
little likely to prove a successful candidate; he had owed his previous
appointment to the influence of the powerful kinsman whose counsels
swayed the actions of a great monarch; that monarch was now in his
grave, and that kinsman in honourable exile; and his claim was no longer
admitted. The Marquis de Coeuvres, who had been master of the wardrobe
to the deceased Prince, was fated to be equally disappointed. The
ministers had not forgotten that he had been an active agent in the
proposed alliance between the Comte de Soissons and Concini, and they
did not fail to impress upon the Queen the extreme danger of placing an
individual of so resolute and enterprising a character about the person
of the heir presumptive. As he could obtain no decided reply to his
application, M. de Coeuvres solicited the assistance of the Marquis
d'Ancre, who met his request with civil professions of regard, but
declined to oppose the will of the ministers; an exhibition of
ingratitude which so enraged the applicant that he forthwith declined
all further interference in the affairs or claim upon the friendship of
the fickle Italian, and attached himself exclusively to the interests of
M. de Soissons.[125]
This Prince was also destined, at this particular period, to augment the
difficulties of the Regent. The duchy of Alençon had been mortgaged by
the French Crown to the Duke of Würtemberg; and hopes had, some months
previously, been held out to the Prince that, should he ever be in a
position to redeem the debt, he might avail himself of the opportunity,
and become its possessor. This time had now come; the Princess his wife
had recovered from the Duke of Savoy a large amount for her estates in
Piedmont, which he resolved to devote to the acquisition of the coveted
duchy, and he accordingly applied for the sanction of the King, without
whose consent the transfer could not be legally executed.
It is probable that, having already received a partial consent to his
wishes, M. de Soissons was far from apprehending any serious impediment
to their realization; but the jealousy of Marie had been aroused, and
she did not fail to perceive that such a concession must be dangerous to
the interests of the younger Children of France. The Prince had
therefore no sooner made his request than she assumed an attitude of
offended dignity and cold rebuke; and while he awaited her reply with a
smile of anticipatory success, she said drily, "Do you wish, Monsieur,
to acquire a duchy which has constantly been set apart as the appanage
of one of the sons of the sovereign? I begin to perceive that your
designs are somewhat lofty."
Thus repulsed, M. de Soissons withdrew, but with a demeanour which
convinced the Regent that she had made a new enemy, whom she must
consequently prepare herself to resist; a conclusion at which she had no
sooner arrived than she summoned the Prince de Condé and the Duc
d'Epernon to her assistance.[126]
This measure was not, however, destined to prove entirely successful.
The Marquis de Coeuvres, who at once felt that M. de Soissons was in no
position to maintain single-handed any effectual opposition to the host
of adversaries about to be marshalled against him, lost not a moment in
seeking to convince him that he had but one prospect of avoiding the
disgrace by which he was threatened. The impetuous Count poured forth
all his wrath in invectives, and declared his readiness to endure any
mortification rather than not enforce what he persisted in designating
as his legitimate claims as a Prince of the Blood, but his zealous
adviser was not to be thus silenced.
"Remember, Sir," was the rejoinder of the Marquis, "that you are now
embroiled with both the Regent and her ministers; that the momentary
truce between yourself and Concini is merely lip-deep, and may be broken
by a breath; that you are the open and declared enemy of the Guises and
the Duc d'Epernon; and that each and all of these are interested in your
ruin. I do not attempt to deny that your quality as a Prince of the
Blood must, as a natural consequence, avail you much; and it is this
very conviction that encourages me to persist in counselling you to
place no reliance upon minor friendships, but at once to ally yourself
closely with your nephew the Prince de Condé, and thus strengthen the
very rights upon which you presume. During a minority the Princes of the
Blood have an influence in France, which once earnestly and truthfully
united and exerted, must eventually prove irresistible."
After some further difficulty M. de Soissons suffered himself to be
convinced by the arguments of the Marquis, and it was ultimately
resolved that overtures should be made to this effect on the part of the
Count through the medium of M. de Beaumont, the son of the President de
Harlay, who was at that period expected in the capital, and who was in
the confidence of the Prince de Condé. Beaumont had accordingly no
sooner arrived than the Marquis de Coeuvres made him acquainted with the
desire of the Count, and it was finally agreed that, upon the pretext of
a hunt, the two Princes should meet at the residence of the former. As,
however, it was immediately ascertained that the Regent had expressed
some suspicions of this interview, and declared the reconciliation which
had taken place to be too sudden not to involve some occult purpose, M.
de Soissons deemed it expedient to silence her fears by inviting Concini
to join the party.
The invitation was accepted; the hunt took place, and was succeeded by
high play, after which the different personages apparently separated
for the night; but within half an hour the two royal kinsmen and their
confidential friends were closeted together, and before dawn an alliance
offensive and defensive was concluded between the Princes, who each
pledged himself to receive no favour or benefit from the Government to
the exclusion or loss of the other; and that, moreover, in the event of
the disgrace or disgust of either, the other should withdraw from the
Court at the same time, whither neither was to be at liberty to return
alone; and this compact, which, as will immediately be seen, could not
fail to prove dangerous to the interests of Marie, was religiously
observed until the death of M. de Soissons.[127]
The credit of the ministers was greatly increased by this new cabal, as
the Regent instantly perceived the necessity of opposing their authority
to the probable pretensions of the Princes, neither of whom attempted to
disguise their discontent at the insignificant position to which they
had been reduced at Court. To Jeannin, in particular, the Queen
expressed in unmeasured terms the confidence which she placed in his
zeal and loyalty; she called him her _friend_, her _arm_, and her
_head_, and assured him that she would be guided entirely by
his counsels.
Anxious to respond to these flattering demonstrations, and to justify
the trust reposed in them, the ministers resolved, in order still
further to protect the Crown against any aggression on the part of the
Princes, to recall to Court the Maréchal de Lesdiguières, who was easily
induced to resign his command of the army in Champagne by the prospect
which they held out to him, of verifying and confirming the ducal patent
which he had obtained from Henri IV. They, however, subsequently failed
to keep this promise, and the disappointment so irritated the Maréchal
that he resolved to revenge himself by joining the party of the Princes,
and otherwise harassing the Council; a determination which was
unfortunately too easily realized at a period of such internal
convulsion.[128]
The last event worthy of record which took place in the present year was
the purchase towards the close of September of the Hôtel de Luxembourg
by the Queen-Regent, for the sum of thirty thousand crowns, in order to
erect upon its site the celebrated Palais d'Orléans, now once more known
by its original name of the Luxembourg. The construction of this
splendid edifice was entrusted to Jacques de Brosse,[129] who
immediately commenced removing the ruins of the dilapidated hôtel which
encumbered the space destined for the new elevation; and four years
subsequently the first stone was laid of the regal pile which
transmitted his own name to posterity, linked with those of Marie de
Medicis and Peter Paul Rubens.[130]
FOOTNOTES:
[98] Sully, _Mém_. vol. viii. p. 129.
[99] Joachim, Sire de Châteauvieux, had been captain of the bodyguard to
Henri IV.
[100] Sully, _Mém_. vol. viii. pp. 133, 134.
[101] Charles de l'Aubespine, Marquis de Châteauneuf-sur-Cher, was born
on the 22nd of February 1580. He was abbot and sub-dean of Preaux, and
was successively ambassador to Switzerland, Holland, Brussels, England
and Venice. On the 14th of November 1630 he was appointed Keeper of the
Seals of France; was deprived of his office on the 25th of February
1633, and recalled on the 2nd of March 1650. He, however, voluntarily
resigned the appointment on the 3rd of April 1651, and retired from the
Court. He died at Leuville on the 17th of September 1653.
[102] D'Héricourt, _Hist. de France_, vol. i. p. 524.
[103] Mézeray, vol. xi. pp. 16, 17.
[104] Richelieu, _Hist. de la Mère et du Fils_, vol. i. pp. 121, 127.
[105] D'Estrées, _Mém_. p. 384, édit. Petitot, suite de Bassompierre.
[106] Bassompierre, _Mém_. p. 75.
[107] Richelieu, _Hist. de la Mère et du Fils_, vol. i. pp. 224, 225.
[108] L'Etoile, vol. iv. p. 206.
[109] D'Estrées, _Mém_. p. 385.
[110] L'Etoile, vol. iv. pp. 210, 211.
[111] Le Vassor, _Hist. de Louis XIII_, vol. i. pp. 57, 58.
[112] Bassompierre, _Mém_. p. 77.
[113] Richelieu, _Hist. de la Mère et du Fils_, vol. i. p. 136.
[114] Le Vassor, vol. i. p. 58.
[115] Mézeray, vol. xi. p. 22.
[116] Mézeray, vol. xi. pp. 22, 23. Le Vassor, vol. i. pp. 72-79.
[117] Nicolas d'Angennes, Marquis de Rambouillet, and Vidame du Mans,
was captain of the bodyguard to Charles IX, and subsequently, under
Henri III, Knight of all the royal Orders, and ambassador to Germany and
Rome. M. de Thou asserts that to high birth M. de Rambouillet united
superior merit; and that, combined with an unusual taste for literature,
he possessed an extraordinary knowledge of public business.
[118] Richelieu, _Hist. de la Mère et du Fils_, vol. i. pp. 152, 153.
[119] L'Etoile, vol. iv. p. 223.
[120] Louis, Cardinal de Gonzaga, was the last member of the Novellare
branch of the illustrious Italian house of Gonzaga, Dukes of Mantua, and
was canonized in 1621 under the title of St. Louis de Gonzaga.
[121] Bassompierre, _Mém_. p. 78.
[122] Siri, _Mém. Rec_. vol. ii. pp. 577-586.
[123] Bassompierre, _Mém_. p. 78.
[124] François Savary, Seigneur de Brèves, had served as ambassador both
at Constantinople and Rome, and was a man of great erudition. Well
versed in history, an able diplomatist, and possessed of considerable
antiquarian lore, he had travelled in Greece, Asia Minor, and the Holy
Land. His pupil, at the period of his appointment, being still a mere
infant, he did not enter upon his official functions until 1615, when
the young Prince was placed under his care, on the departure of the
Court for Bordeaux to celebrate the marriage of Louis XIII with Anne
of Austria.
[125] Richelieu, _Hist. de la Mère et du Fils_, vol. i. pp. 163, 164.
D'Estrées, _Mém_. p. 392.
[126] Le Vassor, vol. i. pp. 88, 89.
[127] Le Vassor, vol. i. pp. 89, 90. Richelieu, _Hist. de la Mère et du
Fils_, vol. i. pp. 157, 158.
[128] Richelieu, _Hist. de la Mère et du Fils_, vol. i. pp. 160, 161.
D'Estrées, _Mém_. p. 393.
[129] Jacques de Brosse was the most renowned architect of his day, and
left behind him more than one work calculated to justify his celebrity.
In addition to the Luxembourg Palace, which was built entirely according
to his designs, he erected the magnificent portico of St. Gervais, the
aqueduct of Arcueil, and the famous Protestant church of Charenton
(destroyed in 1685).
[130] _Curiositéz de Paris_, édit. Sangrain, Paris 1742, vol. ii. p. 37.