1616
Conference of Loudun--Venality of the Princes--Mutual
concessions--Indisposition of M. de Condé--He signs the treaty--Concini
is insulted by a citizen of Paris--The Court return to the
capital--Schism in the cabal--The seals are transferred to M. du
Vair--Disgrace of the ministers--Triumph of Concini--Mangot is appointed
Secretary of State, and Barbin Minister of Finance--The young
sovereigns--Court costumes--Anne of Austria and Marie de
Medicis--Puerility of Louis XIII--The Maréchal de Bouillon and the Duc
de Mayenne return to Court--They seek to ruin Concini--The Prince de
Condé effects a reconciliation with the Queen-mother--James I. sends an
embassy to Paris to negotiate a marriage between the Prince of Wales and
the Princesse Christine--Gorgeous reception at the Louvre--Court
festivities--Concini returns to Paris--He is abandoned by the Prince de
Condé--He is compelled to retire--His forebodings--He endeavours to
induce Leonora to leave France--She refuses--Increasing influence of De
Luynes--Death of Mademoiselle d'Ancre--Despair of Concini--Ambitious
projects of the Prince de Condé--Devotion of Sully--His advice is
disregarded--Popularity of Condé--Marie de Medicis resolves to arrest
him--He disbelieves the rumour--The other Princes withdraw from the
capital--The King is induced to sanction the arrest--Dissimulation of
Louis XIII--Arrest of Condé--Fearless reply of M. du Vair--The Prince is
conveyed to the Bastille--A batch of Marshals--Noble disinterestedness
of Bassompierre--The Dowager Princess of Condé endeavours to excite the
populace to rescue her son--The mob pillage the hôtel of the Maréchal
d'Ancre--The Queen-mother negotiates with the Guises--The council of
war--The seals are transferred from Du Vair to Mangot--Richelieu is
appointed Secretary of State--Concini returns to Court--The Maréchale
d'Ancre becomes partially insane--Popular execration of the Italian
favourites--Subtle policy of Richelieu--Threatening attitude assumed by
the Princes.
The famous Conference of Loudun assembled on the 13th of February 1616;
but as the Prince de Condé presented no less than thirty-one articles
for consideration, many of which required careful examination, it was
mutually agreed that the truce should be prolonged until the decision of
his Majesty might be formed. The position of the Court was, moreover,
rendered more difficult from the fact that several great nobles, who had
not hitherto openly espoused the faction of the rebels, hastened to
swell their ranks, not with the intention of caballing against the
Government, but simply of being included in the concessions to which it
was evident that the Council would be compelled in order to accomplish a
peace. Among others the Duc de Vendôme, who had so recently solicited
his pardon, and declared his intention of adhering to the royal cause,
was conspicuous in the ranks of the enemy; together with the young Duc
de Candale, the son of D'Epernon, who had embraced the reformed faith,
the Duc de Piney-Luxembourg, and the Dowager Countess of Soissons, who
withdrew from the Court at Tours, and joined her son at Loudun. This
example, contemptible as it was, proved contagious, and was followed by
two of the greatest Princesses of the Blood, the Dowager Princesses of
Condé and Longueville,[219] to the extreme annoyance of the
Queen-mother, who was aware of the extent of their influence, and quite
alive to its probable consequences.
Meanwhile both armies were suffering so severely from extreme cold and
scarcity of provisions, that more than ten thousand men fell victims to
exposure and famine; and the bodyguard of the King became at length so
much weakened that he found himself compelled to summon the Swiss under
Bassompierre for the protection of his person.
The demands with which Condé and his partisans opened the Conference
were such as required little deliberation; but as the proceedings
advanced they became more and more onerous; until, finally, as the
Council had foreseen, they all resolved themselves into questions of
individual interest. The Duc de Longueville claimed full authority over
all the fortresses in his government of Picardy which were held by the
Maréchal d'Ancre, and refused to accede to any terms with the Crown
until they were given up; while the other Princes and nobles asked
either gratuities for themselves, or vengeance upon their enemies; and
all agreed in claiming the payment of their troops by the royal treasury
before they would consent to lay down their arms.[220]
Finally, on the 5th of May, the Conference was closed; several of the
articles presented by M. de Condé having been conceded, others deferred,
and the remainder conditionally agreed to. In the meantime, however, the
Prince had been taken seriously ill, and the fear that he might not
survive so threatening an attack determined the leaders of his faction
to accept whatever terms the Court should decide to offer. While the
disease was at its height, the Princes and royal commissioners assembled
about his bed, where the English Ambassador also presented himself;
but, although he had taken so active a part in the reconciliation about
to be effected between the Crown and the rebel nobles, M. de Villeroy
vehemently refused to permit him to remain, declaring that upon such an
occasion it was impossible to allow a foreigner to interfere between a
sovereign and his subjects. This dispute was followed by a second, the
deputies of La Rochelle having demanded a continuance of their assembly;
a demand which was opposed with such warmth and violence that M. de
Condé, unable to support the disturbance, weakened as he was by the
fever which preyed upon him, commanded instant silence; and desiring
that a pen might be brought to him, together with the edict of
pacification which had been drawn up, he forthwith affixed his signature
to the document, declaring that those who loved him would do the same,
while such as refused to follow his example should be compelled to do
so. He then pronounced a short prayer, in which he thanked God for the
cessation of hostilities, after which he desired to be left alone; and
on the morrow preparations were commenced for disbanding the rebel
troops.[221]
This apparent precipitation did not, however, involve any sacrifice
either on the part of the Prince himself or on that of his principal
adherents, since Richelieu has recorded that the peace for which M. de
Condé so piously uttered his thanksgiving cost Louis XIII upwards of six
millions of livres;[222] every individual of mark having cause to feel
satisfied with the result of the Conference save the Protestants, who,
as a body, derived no benefit whatever from the treaty.[223]
Concini, who had remained in Paris during the absence of the Court, had
meanwhile been subjected to a mortification which, to his haughty
spirit, far exceeded a more important evil. The citizens who had
continued to keep watch and ward, despite the cessation of hostilities
that had taken place, persevered in requiring that all who entered or
quitted the capital should be provided with passports; a formality with
which the arrogant Italian considered it unnecessary to comply; and,
accordingly, when on one occasion he was about to proceed to his house
in the faubourg attended by some of the gentlemen of his suite, he had
no sooner reached the Porte de Bussy, where a shoemaker named Picard was
on guard, than this man compelled his carriage to stop, and demanded his
passport. Enraged by such a mark of disrespect, the Maréchal imperiously
ordered his coachman to proceed, but this was rendered impossible by the
threatening attitude of the well-armed guardian of the gate.
"Rascal!" shouted Concini, showing himself at the door of the carriage;
"do you know who I am?"
"Right well, Sir," was the unmoved reply; "and nevertheless you shall
not stir a step beyond the walls without a passport."
The Italian was pale with indignation, but he dared not resent the
insult, as a crowd was rapidly collecting from whom he was aware that he
could expect no mercy; and he accordingly restrained himself
sufficiently to despatch a messenger for an order of egress, which
promptly arrived. His southern blood, however, beat and burnt in his
veins, and he awaited only an opportunity of revenge. A few days
subsequently, unable any longer to control his rage, he desired his
equerry to proceed to the residence of Picard with two valets, and to
repay his insolence by a sound cudgelling; an order which was so
implicitly obeyed that the unfortunate shoemaker narrowly escaped with
his life; while a mob, attracted by the uproar, seized the two
serving-men--who, confiding in the power of their master, treated their
menaces with contempt--and hanged them before the door of the house in
which they had committed the outrage. The equerry, who had also fallen
into the hands of the populace, was put upon his trial, and it was only
by means of a heavy bribe that the discomfited Maréchal, alarmed by what
had taken place, was enabled to induce Picard to withdraw his accusation
against him.[224]
At the close of the Conference of Loudun the Court returned to Paris,
where the reception of their Majesties was enthusiastic, while that of
Marie de Medicis was cold and constrained, although it was well known
that M. de Condé had all but obtained the presidency of the Council, and
that the Queen-mother had made other concessions which she had
previously repelled with considerable haughtiness at Tours; such as
granting to the Duc de Longueville the exclusive authority in Picardy,
which deprived the Maréchal d'Ancre of his cherished fortresses; while
on the other hand, despite the advantages which they had reaped from the
weakness of the Government, the discontented nobles had separated in no
better spirit. The Ducs de Rohan and de Sully loudly complained that
they had been deceived by the Prince; M. de Longueville, who had vainly
sought to obtain the government of Normandy, and who was afraid to
return to Picardy until convinced that he had nothing to fear from the
resentment of the Maréchal d'Ancre, considered himself aggrieved; and
such, in short, was the general jealousy and distrust exhibited by the
lately coalesced nobles that, with the exception of the Duc de Mayenne
and the Maréchal de Bouillon, who found themselves involved in one
common interest--that of destroying the influence of the Ducs d'Epernon
and de Bellegarde--the whole of the late cabal appeared by mutual
consent to have become inimical to each other.[225]
On the arrival of the Court in Paris the seals were taken from the
Chancellor, and delivered into the keeping of Guillaume du Vair, who
was at that period in his sixtieth year, on the pretext that so
important a charge must be oppressive to M. de Sillery at his advanced
age; a subterfuge which could not have failed to excite the discontent
of the people had they not distrusted his cupidity as much as Marie was
wearied of his services. Certain it is, however, that his dismissal
occasioned no regret, and was speedily forgotten.[226] Villeroy and
Jeannin were the immediate agents of his dismissal from office, as they
ascribed to him their own previous discredit at Court, and had long been
secretly labouring to repay him in kind; but their triumph was destined
to be short-lived. Concini had effected the disgrace of his old and
hated rival the Duc d'Epernon; and that feat accomplished, he next
resolved to rid himself of the two veteran ministers who were the most
formidable stumbling-blocks upon his path of ambition. Aware of the
distrustful nature of the Queen-mother, whose experience had made her
suspicious of all by whom she was surrounded, he at once decided upon
his plan of action; and it was not long ere he induced her to believe
that they had acted in the interests of the Prince de Condé, rather than
her own, during the Conference of Loudun; while such plausible proofs
did he adduce of this assertion, that once more Marie de Medicis
consented to exclude them from the Council.
This was the moment for which the Italian favourite had so long sighed.
From the death of Henri IV he had exerted all his energies to overthrow
the Princes of the Blood, and to replace the old ministers by creatures
of his own; but so hopeless did the attempt appear that more than once
he had despaired of ultimate success. Now, however, he found himself
pre-eminent; the Queen-mother, harassed and worn-out by the cabals which
were incessantly warring against her authority, and threatening her
tenure of power, threw herself with eagerness into the hands of the
adventurer who owed all to her favour, and implicitly followed his
advice, in the hope that she might thus escape the machinations of her
enemies. Mangot,[227] whose devotion to the Maréchal d'Ancre was
notorious, was appointed Secretary of State, in which dignity he
replaced M. de Puisieux;[228] while the administration of finance was
conferred upon M. Barbin,[229] although Jeannin nominally retained
office.[230]
While these changes were convulsing the Cabinet, irritating the great
nobles, and exciting the apprehensions of all those who desired the
welfare of the nation, the young sovereigns, whom they more immediately
concerned, were either ignorant or careless of their consequences. The
girl-Queen, surrounded by her Spanish attendants, spent her time in the
enjoyment of the pleasures congenial to her age. According to Madame de
Motteville,[231] she was strikingly handsome, but rather Austrian than
Spanish in her style of beauty, with an abundance of fair hair which she
wore in ringlets about her face. On her arrival in France she retained
the national costume; and discarding the tapestried chests common at the
period, made use of a pile of cushions as her seat. The Marquise de
Morny (quoted by Madame de Motteville) described her on the occasion of
her own presentation as reclining upon this Moorish sofa in the midst of
her attendants, habited in a dress of green satin embroidered with gold
and silver, with large hanging sleeves looped together at intervals by
diamond buttons; a close ruff, and a small cap of green velvet with a
black heron-feather.[232]
[Illustration: ANNE OF AUSTRIA.]
At once regal and elegant as such a costume must have been, it is
deplorable to contrast it with those which she adopted in after-years,
when the most monstrous caprices were permitted at her Court; and when
it was by no means uncommon to see women of the highest rank, about to
ride on horseback, present themselves in the royal circle in dresses
reaching only to the knee, with their legs encased in tight pantaloons
of velvet, or even in complete _haut-de-chausses;_ while the habitual
attire of the sex was equally _bizarre_ and exaggerated. There were the
_vasquines_ or rollers which encircled the waist and extended the folds
of the petticoats, thus giving additional smallness to the waist; the
_brassards-à-chevrons_ or metallic braces for expanding the sleeves; and
the _affiquet_ of pearls or diamonds coquettishly attached to the left
breast, and entitled the _assassin_. Added to these absurdities there
were, moreover, bows of ribbon, each of which had its appropriate name
and position; the _galant_ was placed on the summit of the head; the
_mignon_ on the heart; the _favori_ under and near the _assassin_; and
the _badin_ on the handle of the fan. Short curls upon the temples were
designated _cavaliers_; ringlets were _garçons_; while a hundred other
inanities of the same description compelled the great ladies of the
period to adopt a slang which was perfectly unintelligible to all save
the initiated; and when we add to these details the well-authenticated
fact that the royal apartments were fumigated with powdered tobacco
(then a recent and costly importation into France), in lieu of the
perfumes which had previously been in use for the same purpose, it will
scarcely be denied that caprice rather than taste dictated the habits of
the Court under Louis XIII.
To revert, however, to the earlier years of Anne of Austria, it would
appear that the troubles of the royal bride did not await her womanhood.
Like Marie de Medicis, she clung to all which appeared to link her to
her distant home, and caused her to forget for a time that it was hers
no longer; and under this impulse it was by no means surprising that she
attached herself with girlish affection to the individuals by whom she
had been followed in her splendid exile; but even as her predecessor had
been compelled to forego the society of her native attendants, so was
Anne of Austria in her turn deprived of the solace of their presence.
With the exception of Doña Estefania, her first waiting-woman, to whom
she was tenderly attached, and who had been about her person from her
infancy, all were dismissed by Marie de Medicis, who, anxious to retain
her authority over the wife of her son, dreaded the influence of Anne's
Spanish followers.
Nor was this her only disappointment. We have already shown with what
eagerness she looked forward to her first meeting with her intended
bridegroom, whose grave but manly beauty so fully realized all her hopes
that, as she ingeniously confessed, she could have loved him tenderly
had he possessed a heart to bestow upon her in return. But she soon
discovered that such was not the case; and that Louis XIII saw in her
nothing more interesting than a Princess who was worthy by her rank and
quality to share with him the throne of France.
This was a sad discovery for a lovely girl of fifteen years of age, who
had anticipated nothing less than devotion on the part of a young
husband by whom she had been so eagerly met on her arrival; nor did she
fail to contrast his coldness with the ill-disguised admiration of many
of his great nobles, and to weep over the wreck of her fondest and
fairest visions. But, young and high-spirited, she struggled against the
isolation of soul to which she was condemned; and probably resented with
more bitterness the coercion to which she was subjected by the iron rule
of her royal mother-in-law than even the coldness of the husband to whom
she had been prepared to give up her whole heart.[233]
Louis, on his side, although the sovereign of a great nation, was also
exposed to privations; merely physical, it is true, but still
sufficiently irritating to increase his natural moroseness and
discontent. While the Maréchal d'Ancre displayed at Court a profusion
and splendour which amounted to insolence, the young King was frequently
without the means of indulging the mere caprices common to his age; but
although he murmured, and even at times appeared to resent the neglect
with which he was treated, he easily consoled himself amid the puerile
sports in which he frittered away his existence; and attended by De
Luynes and his brothers, found constant occupation in waging war against
small birds, and in training their captors. In such pursuits he was
moreover encouraged by the Queen-mother and her favourites; who, anxious
to retain their power, did not make any effort to awaken him to a sense
of what he owed to himself and to the kingdom over which he had been
called upon to rule. The only occasions upon which he appeared to feel
the slightest pleasure in the society of his beautiful young wife was
when he engaged her to share in his rides and hawking-parties, in order
to excite her admiration of his skill, an admiration of which Anne was
lavish, as she trusted by flattering his vanity to awaken his affection;
while she moreover enjoyed, with all the zest of girlhood, so agreeable
an escape from the etiquette and formalities of a Court life.
The treaty of Loudun was no sooner concluded than the revolted nobles
separated, each dissatisfied with the other, and all murmuring at the
insufficiency of the recompense by which their several concessions had
been met. The Prince de Condé, on his convalescence, withdrew to Berry,
which government had been given to him in exchange for that of Guienne;
Sully retired to Poitou, and the Duc de Rohan returned to La Rochelle;
while of all the lately disaffected leaders the Maréchal de Bouillon and
the Duc de Mayenne alone proceeded to Court, in order to claim the
immunities promised in requital of their secession from the interests of
the Prince de Condé. The King and the two Queens were residing at the
Louvre on their arrival, where they had every reason to be satisfied
with their reception; and the Maréchal d'Ancre, who, terrified by the
undisguised hostility of the Parisians, had not ventured to accompany
his royal mistress, no sooner ascertained the return of the two nobles
to the capital than he hastened to make them the most brilliant offers
in the event of their consenting to espouse his interests. Neither the
Maréchal nor the Duke were, however, disposed to second his views, and
only profited by his advances to swell the ranks of his enemies. This
was a task of comparatively slight difficulty, as all classes in the
kingdom considered themselves aggrieved by his unparalleled prosperity;
and thus, ere long, the Duc de Guise was prevailed upon to join the new
cabal, into which it was only further deemed necessary to enlist M. de
Condé. Bouillon, who possessed great influence over the Prince, exerted
himself strenuously to prevent his return to Court, in order to increase
his own consequence in the estimation of the Queen-mother; but his
efforts proved ineffectual, as M. de Condé believed it to be more
compatible with his own interests to effect a reconciliation with the
Crown; and, acting upon this impression, he pledged himself to support
Concini, on condition that he should be appointed chief of the Council
of Finance, and take a share in the government. His proposal was
accepted, and to the great annoyance of M. de Bouillon, the Prince once
more appeared at Court. His reception by the citizens was, however, so
enthusiastic that Marie de Medicis became alarmed, until she was assured
by Richelieu, then the open and zealous ally of the Maréchal d'Ancre,
that the King had nothing to fear from a popularity which would only
tend to render M. de Condé a more efficient ally; an assurance which
afforded so much gratification to the Queen-mother, that she repaid it
by appointing the Bishop of Luçon Almoner to the young Queen, and
shortly afterwards Councillor of State.[234]
Ten days subsequently to the return of M. de Condé to Paris a new
embassy arrived from James I., to renew the negotiation of marriage
between the Prince of Wales and Madame Christine de France, upon which
occasion the Court of Louis XIII displayed all its magnificence,
without, however, eclipsing that of the English nobles to whom the
embassy had been entrusted. The hôtel of the late Queen Marguerite was
prepared for their reception, where they were visited by all the great
nobles and foreign ministers; and finally, on the following Sunday, they
were received in state at the Louvre. Lord Hay (afterwards Earl of
Carlisle) was the accredited ambassador; while Mr. Rich (subsequently
Lord Holland), Goring, and other individuals of mark contributed to
increase the splendour and importance of his mission.
Nothing could be more sumptuous than the spectacle which was presented
by the Louvre upon this occasion. The halls and galleries were alike
thronged by all that was noble and beautiful at the Court of France.
Princes of the Blood, nobles, marshals, and prelates were mingled with
the great ladies of the household in their state dresses, rustling in
silks, velvets, and cloth of gold and silver, and glittering with
diamonds. Amid this galaxy of magnificence the Queen-mother shone
conspicuous. Still remarkable for her stately beauty and dignified
deportment, she had left no means untried to enhance their effect, and
she had been eminently successful. She was attired in a long robe of
amaranth velvet, of which the wide and open sleeves were slashed with
white satin, and looped together by large pearls, save at the wrists and
elbows, where they were fastened by immense brilliants. Her ruff of rich
Alençon lace rose half a foot in height at the back of her neck, whence
it decreased in breadth until it reached her bosom, which was
considerably exposed, according to the fashion of the period. A coronet
of diamonds surmounted her elaborately curled hair, which was drawn
back, so as to exhibit in its full dimensions her broad and lofty brow;
and the most costly jewels were scattered over her whole attire, which
gave back their many-coloured lights at every movement of her person.
The Prince de Joinville, the Ducs de Guise and d'Elboeuf, the Marquises
de Rosny and de Créquy, and M. de Bassompierre, accompanied by a
numerous train of nobles, escorted the English envoys to the palace;
while more than fifty thousand persons crowded the streets through which
the glittering train was compelled to pass.
During the following week Paris was the scene of perpetual gaiety and
splendour. All the Princes and great nobles vied with each other in the
magnificence of the balls, banquets, and other entertainments which were
given in honour of their distinguished guests.[235] Presents of
considerable value were exchanged; and the British Ambassador had every
reason to anticipate the favourable termination of his mission; but
subsequent circumstances compelled him to abstain from seeking a
definite reply.[236]
The arrival of M. de Condé in Paris, and the pledge given by that Prince
to support him with his influence, determined Concini once more to
hazard his own return to the capital under the escort of Bassompierre;
but he found the popular irritation still so great against him, that
when he visited the Prince he was accompanied by a suite of a hundred
horse. His reception by his new ally was, moreover, less cordial than he
had hoped; for Condé had already begun to regret his promise, and to
feel apprehensive that by upholding the interests of the Italian
favourite he should lose his own popularity. He also believed that the
amount of power which he had at length succeeded in securing must render
him independent of such a coalition; and he resolved to seize the
earliest opportunity of impressing upon Concini the unpalatable fact.
This opportunity soon presented itself. On the 14th of August the Prince
gave a banquet to the English envoy, which was attended by all the
principal nobility of the Court, but from which the Maréchal d'Ancre had
been excluded. While the guests were still at table, however, Concini,
on the pretext of paying his respects to Lord Hay, entered the
banqueting-hall, attended by thirty of those gentlemen of his household
whom he arrogantly called his _conios di mille franchi_.[237]
He had no sooner seated himself than Mayenne, Bouillon, and others of
the cabal which had been formed against him proposed that so favourable
an opportunity should not be lost of taking his life, and thus ridding
the country of the incubus by which it had so long been oppressed in the
person of an insolent foreigner; but the project was no sooner
communicated to M. de Condé than he imperatively forbade all violence
beneath his own roof. Meanwhile Concini, although he did not fail to
perceive by what was taking place about him that he had placed himself
in jeopardy by thus braving his enemies, nevertheless maintained the
most perfect self-possession, and was suffered to depart in safety. On
the following morning, however, he received a communication from the
Prince, who, after assuring him that he had experienced great difficulty
in restraining the Princes and nobles into whose presence he had forced
himself on the preceding day from executing summary justice upon him in
order to avenge their several wrongs; and that they had, moreover,
threatened to abandon his own cause should he persist in according his
protection to an individual whom they were resolved to pursue even to
the death, concluded by declaring that it would thenceforward be
impossible for him to maintain the pledge which he had given, and
advising him to lose no time in retiring to Normandy, of which province
he was lieutenant-general.[238]
Although exasperated by the bad faith of M. de Condé, Concini was
nevertheless compelled to follow this interested suggestion; but, before
he left the field open to his enemies, he resolved to strike a parting
blow; and he had accordingly no sooner dismissed the messenger of the
Prince than he proceeded to the Louvre, where, while taking leave of the
Queen-mother, he eagerly impressed upon her that she was alike deceived
by Condé and trifled with by Bouillon, and that all the members of their
faction were agreed to divest her of her authority; an attempt of which
the result could only be averted by the seizure of their persons.[239]
It is probable, however, that, even despite the avowed abandonment of
the Prince de Condé, Concini might have hesitated to quit his post had
not the affair of Picard convinced him that his prosperity had reached
its climax. Even the Queen-mother, indignant as she expressed herself at
the insult to which he had been subjected, betrayed no inclination to
resent it; and so entire was his conviction that his overthrow was at
hand, that there can be no doubt but that thenceforward he began
seriously to meditate a return to his own country.[240]
Nearly at the moment in which the Maréchal d'Ancre was thus unexpectedly
compelled to leave Paris, his untiring enemy the Duc de Longueville made
himself master of the three towns of Péronne, Roye, and Montdidier in
Picardy, which, by the Treaty of Loudun, had been secured to Concini.
Publicly the Princes blamed this violation of the treaty, and exhorted
the Duke to relinquish his conquests; but being in reality delighted
that places of this importance, and, moreover, so immediately in the
neighbourhood of the capital, should be in the possession of one of
their own allies, they privately sent him both men and money to enable
him to retain them.[241]
Meanwhile Marie de Medicis made no effort to compel the restitution of
the captured towns; the insult to which Concini had been subjected by
Picard remained unavenged, and the Italian could no longer conceal from
himself that he had outlived his fortunes. It is scarcely doubtful,
moreover, that, with the superstition common to the period, the
prediction of Luminelli had pressed heavily upon his mind; as from that
period he became anxious to abandon the French Court, and to retire with
his enormous wealth to his native city. It was in vain, however, that he
sought to inspire Leonora with the same desire; in vain that he
represented the prudence of taking the initiative while there was yet
time; the foster-sister of Marie de Medicis peremptorily refused to
leave Paris, alleging that it would be cowardly to abandon her royal
mistress at a period when she was threatened alike by the ambition of
the Prince de Condé and the enmity of De Luynes, whose power over the
mind of the young sovereign was rapidly making itself felt.
At this precise moment a new and grave misfortune tended to augment the
eagerness of the Maréchal d'Ancre to carry out his project. His
daughter, through whose medium he had looked to form an alliance with
some powerful family, and thus to fortify his own position, was taken
dangerously ill, and in a few days breathed her last. His anguish was
ungovernable; and while his wife wept in silence beside the body of her
dead child, he, on the contrary, abandoned himself to the most vehement
exclamations, strangely mingling his expressions of fear for his future
fate with regret for the loss which he had thus sustained.
"Signore," he replied vehemently to Bassompierre, who vainly attempted
to console him, "I am lost; Signore, I am ruined; Signore, I am
miserable. I regret my daughter, and shall do so while I live; but I
could support this affliction did I not see before me the utter ruin of
myself, my wife, my son, and my whole house, in the obstinacy of
Leonora. Were you not aware of my whole history I should perhaps be less
frank, but you know that when I arrived in France, far from owning a
single sou, my debts amounted to eight hundred crowns; now we possess
more than a million in money, with landed property and houses in France,
three hundred thousand crowns at Florence, and a similar sum in Rome. I
do not speak of the fortune accumulated by my wife; but surely we may be
satisfied to exist for the remainder of our lives upon the proceeds of
our past favour. Had you not been well informed as to my previous life I
might seek to disguise it from you, but you cannot have forgotten that
you saw me at Florence steeped in debauchery, frequently in prison, more
than once in exile, generally without resources, and continually lost in
disorder and excess. Here, on the contrary, I have acquired alike
honour, wealth, and favour, and I would fain disappoint my enemies by
leaving the country without disgrace; but the Maréchale is
impracticable; and were it not that I should be guilty of ingratitude in
separating my fortunes from those of a woman to whom I owe all that I
possess, I would forthwith leave the country and secure my own safety
and that of my son." [242]
The allusion made by Concini to the growing ambition of the Prince de
Condé was unfortunately not destitute of foundation; and suspicions were
rapidly gaining ground that he meditated nothing less than a transfer of
the crown of France to his own brow, on the pretext that the marriage of
Henri IV with the Tuscan Princess was invalid, his former wife being
still alive, and his hand, moreover, solemnly pledged to the Marquise de
Verneuil. On more than one occasion, when he had feasted his friends,
their glasses had been emptied amid cries of _Barre à bas_; a toast
which was interpreted as intended to signify the suppression of the
bar-sinister which the shield of Condé bore between its three
_fleurs-de-lis_.[243] Neither Sully, who had recently returned to Court,
nor the Duc de Guise could be induced to join in so criminal a faction;
and the former had no sooner been informed of the dangerous position of
the King than, dissatisfied as he was with the treatment which he had
personally received, he demanded an audience of the young sovereign and
his mother, in order to warn them of their peril. In vain, however, did
Marie, touched by this proof of loyal devotedness, urge him to suggest
a remedy.
"I am no longer in office, Madame," he replied proudly; "and you have
your chosen counsellors about you. I have done my duty, and leave it to
others to do theirs."
He then made his parting obeisance, and had already reached the door of
the apartment, leaving the Queen-mother in a state of agitation and
alarm which she made no effort to disguise, when, suddenly pausing upon
the threshold, he once more turned towards her, saying impressively:
"Sire, and you, Madame, I beg your Majesties to reflect upon what I have
said; my conscience is now at rest. Would to God that you were in the
midst of twelve hundred horse; I can see no other alternative." And
without awaiting any reply, he then withdrew.[244]
The advice of the veteran minister appeared, however, to the friends of
the Queen-mother too dangerous to be followed. France had so recently
been delivered from the horrors of a civil war that it was deemed
inexpedient to provoke its renewal by any hostile demonstration on the
part of the Crown; while, moreover, the popularity of Condé was so
notorious that no doubt could be entertained of his success should the
_ultima ratio regum_ be adopted. His influence was alike powerful with
all classes; the people were unanimous in his cause; the Princes and
great nobles were his zealous adherents; and since his entrance into the
Council as its president, not content with dividing his authority with
the Queen-mother, he had gradually absorbed it in his own person. His
hôtel was crowded by those who formerly thronged the apartments of the
Louvre; all who had demands to make, or remonstrances to offer,
addressed themselves to him only; and thus he had become too dangerous
an enemy to be lightly opposed.[245]
Under these circumstances it appeared impossible to proceed openly
against him, while it was equally essential to deliver the Crown from so
formidable an adversary; his arrest offered the only opportunity of
effecting so desirable a result, but even to accomplish this with safety
was by no means easy. In his own house he was surrounded by friends and
adherents who would have rendered such an attempt useless; and after
mature deliberation it was accordingly agreed that he must be made
prisoner in the Louvre.
Under a specious pretext the Swiss Guards were detained in the great
court of the palace; the Marquis de Thémines[246] undertook to demand
the sword of the Prince, and to secure his person, volunteering at the
same time to procure the assistance of his two sons, and seven or eight
nobles upon whose fidelity he could rely; arms were introduced into one
of the apartments of the Queen-mother in a large chest, which was
understood to contain costly stuffs from Italy; and a number of the
youngest and most distinguished noblemen of the Court, to whom Marie
appealed for support, took a solemn oath of obedience to her behests,
without inquiring into the nature of the service to which they were
thus pledged.
All being in readiness, Bassompierre was awakened at three o'clock in
the morning of the 1st of September by a gentleman of the Queen-mother's
household, and instructed to proceed immediately to the Louvre in
disguise. On his arrival he found Marie only half-dressed, seated
between Mangot and Barbin, and evidently in a state of extraordinary
agitation and excitement. As he entered the apartment she said
hurriedly:
"You are welcome, Bassompierre. You do not know why I have summoned you
so early; I will shortly explain my reason."
Then, rising from her seat, she paced to and fro across the floor for
nearly half an hour, no one venturing to break in upon her reverie.
Suddenly, however, she paused, and beckoning to her companions to follow
her, she entered her private closet; and the hangings no sooner fell
behind the party than, turning once more towards him, she continued with
bitter vehemence:
"I am about to arrest the Prince, together with the Ducs de Vendôme, de
Mayenne, and de Bouillon. Let the Swiss Guards be on the spot by eleven
o'clock as I proceed to the Tuileries, for should I be compelled by the
people to leave Paris, I wish them to accompany me to Nantes. I have
secured my jewels and forty thousand golden crowns, and I shall take my
children with me, if--which I pray God may not be the case, and as I do
not anticipate--I find myself under the necessity of leaving the
capital; for I am resolved to submit to every sort of peril and
inconvenience rather than lose my own authority or endanger that of the
King." [247]
The final arrangements were then discussed, and Marie de Medicis was
left to her own thoughts until the hour of eight, when M. de Thémines
was announced.
"Ha! you are come at length," she exclaimed joyfully; "I was awaiting
you with impatience. The Council is about to open, and it is time that
we were all prepared. Can you depend on those by whom you are
accompanied?"
"They are my sons, Madame."
"Bravely answered!" said Marie forcing a smile, as she extended her
hand, which the Marquis raised to his lips. "Go then, and remember that
the fate of France and of her monarch are in your keeping."
Although surrounded by devoted friends, the Queen-mother was agitated by
a thousand conflicting emotions. She was well aware that her own future
existence as a Queen hung upon the success or failure of her enterprise,
as should the slightest indiscretion on the part of any of her agents
arouse the suspicions of the Prince and induce him to leave the capital,
he had every prospect of obtaining the crown. Moreover, MM. de Créquy
and de Bassompierre, who were in command of the French and Swiss Guards,
and who had received orders to draw up their men in order of battle at
the great gate of the Louvre immediately that the Prince should have
entered, and to arrest him did he attempt to leave the palace, became
alarmed at the responsibility thus thrust upon them, and declined to
comply with these instructions until they had received a warranty to
that effect under the great seal; but this demand having been conceded,
they hesitated no longer.[248] All the precautions which had been taken
nevertheless failed in some degree in their effect, as the Duc de
Mayenne and the Maréchal de Bouillon were apprised by their emissaries
of the unusual movements of the Court, and at once adopted measures of
safety. Bouillon feigned an indisposition, and refused to leave his
hotel, where, after a long interview with the Duke, it was resolved that
Condé should be warned not to trust himself in the power of the
Queen-mother. The Prince, however, who had been lulled into false
security by the specious representations of Barbin, treated their
caution with contempt, being unable to believe that Marie would venture
to attempt any violence towards himself.
"If there be indeed any hostile intention on the part of the Crown," he
said disdainfully, "it probably regards M. de Bouillon, whose restless
spirit excites the alarm of the Queen-mother. Let him look to himself,
if he see fit to do so. Should he be committed to the Bastille my
interests will not suffer."
Angered by his presumption, the two friends made no further protest,
but contented themselves with redoubling their own precautions. Bouillon
retired to Charenton with a strong escort, while the Duc de Mayenne
remained quietly in his hôtel, having made the necessary preparations
for instant flight should such a step become essential to his
safety.[249]
Meanwhile at the Louvre nothing remained to be done but to communicate
to the young King the project which was about to be realized, and to
induce him to sanction it by his countenance; an attempt which offered
little difficulty, the jealousy of Louis having been excited by the
assumed authority of the Prince, and his dissimulating nature being
gratified by this first participation in a state intrigue.
At ten o'clock a great clamour upon the quay near the gate of the palace
attracted the attention of the Queen-mother, who commanded silence, and
in another moment distinct cries of "Long live the Prince!" "Long live
M. de Condé!" were heard in the apartment. Marie de Medicis rose from
her seat and approached an open window, followed by the
Maréchale d'Ancre.
"The Prince is about to open the Council," said Leonora with a bitter
smile.
"Rather say the King of France," replied Marie with a flushed cheek, as
she saw Condé graciously receiving the petitions which were tendered to
him on all sides. "But his royalty shall be like that of the bean;[250]
it shall not last long." [251]
When he alighted at the palace Condé proceeded to the hall of the
Council, which was on the ground-floor; and at the termination of the
sitting ascended, as was his custom, to the apartments of the
Queen-mother, where Louis, who had entered eagerly into the part that
had been assigned to him, and who had just distributed with his own
hands the arms which had been prepared for the followers of M. de
Thémines, met him in the gallery, entered into a cheerful conversation,
and, finally, invited him to join a hawking-party which was to take
place within an hour. Condé, however, whose thoughts were otherwise
engaged, declined to participate in the offered pastime, and the young
King, having accomplished all that had been required of him, accepted
his excuses, and returned to the apartment of his mother. At the same
moment Thémines and his two sons issued from a small passage, and,
approaching the Prince, announced that they had received an order to
arrest him.
"Arrest me!" exclaimed Condé in astonishment. "It is impossible!"
"Such are my instructions," said the Marquis, as he extended his hand to
receive the forfeited sword, while his two sons placed themselves on
each side of the prisoner.
"You are aware that I am the first Prince of the Blood."
"I know, Monseigneur, the respect which is your due," was the reply,
"but I must obey the King."
"I must see their Majesties," persisted the Prince.
"It is impossible. Come, sir, suffer me to conduct you to the apartment
to which I have been directed to escort you."
"How!" vehemently exclaimed Condé, looking round upon the nobles who
were collected in the hall of which he had just reached the entrance,
"is there no one here who has sufficient courage to spare me this
outrage? You, Monsieur," he continued, addressing himself to Du Vair,
"you at least I know to be a man of probity. Did you counsel this
violation of all the solemn promises which have been made to me?"
"I was not consulted upon the subject, Monseigneur," replied the Keeper
of the Seals; "nor shall it be my fault if so grievous an error be not
speedily redeemed. The more brief the folly the better the result."
This imprudent retort was destined to seal the disgrace of the upright
minister without serving the Prince, who, seeing that he had nothing to
anticipate from any demonstration on the part of the assembled nobles,
haughtily desired his captor to conduct him to his allotted prison.[252]
"And when you have done so," he added in a firm voice, as he swept the
apartment with an eye as bright and as steady as though he had not stood
there unarmed and a captive, "you may tell the Queen-mother that she has
anticipated me only by three days, for had she waited beyond that time,
the King would no longer have had a crown upon his head." [253]
The Prince was then conducted by a back staircase to an upper chamber
strongly barred, where he remained guarded by M. de Thémines until he
was conveyed to the Bastille.
The exultation of Marie de Medicis was at its height. She embraced her
son as fervently as though by the imprudence of which she had just been
guilty she had ensured the security of his throne, and received the
congratulations of the courtiers with undisguised delight. "See, Sire,"
she exclaimed, as with one hand resting upon the shoulder of the young
King she advanced to the centre of the great hall, "here is our brave M.
de Thémines, to whom we are so greatly indebted. Can you not offer him a
royal recompense? He is not yet a Marshal of France."
"I salute you, M. le Maréchal," said Louis with regal gravity. "In an
hour I will sign your brevet."
M. de Thémines bowed low, and kissed the hand of the King.
"And I," smiled Marie de Medicis, "present you with a hundred thousand
crowns. Your elder son the Marquis de Thémines is henceforth captain of
my bodyguard, and your younger the Baron de Lauzière equerry of
Monsieur."
Again the captor of M. de Condé bent low and uttered his
acknowledgments.
Low murmurs were heard among the nobles.
"Advance, M. de Montigny," continued Marie, turning graciously towards
an individual who had only just reached the capital, having on his way
provided the Duc de Vendôme with a relay of horses in order to
facilitate his escape. "Sire, the Comte de Montigny was a faithful and
devoted follower of your father. You owe him also some mark of favour."
"M. de Montigny shall be a marshal," said Louis XIII, delighted with his
new and unchecked exhibition of power.
"It would appear that to ask a _bâton_ is to have one on this occasion,"
said M. de Saint-Géran[254] in a low voice to the Marquis de Créquy;
"let us therefore put in our claim."
"With all my heart," replied the Marquis gaily. "The ladies do not
refuse us their smiles, nor the Queen-mother the festivities in her
honour by which we impoverish our estates; why, therefore, should the
King deprive us of our share of the easily-won distinctions of the day?"
So saying, the two courtiers moved a pace nearer to Marie de Medicis,
who did not fail to observe and to comprehend the action.
"Happy is the monarch who sees himself surrounded by loyal subjects and
by faithful friends," pursued the exulting Princess; "your Majesty has
not yet completed the good work so royally commenced?"
"M. de Créquy has already a _bâton_," said Louis, somewhat bewildered by
the new part he was called upon to enact on so large a scale.
"But you have forgotten, Sire, that he is neither duke nor peer."
"I salute you, M. le Duc et Pair," said the young King.
The Marquis acknowledged his new honours, and made way for his
companion.
"Our list of marshals is full, M. de Saint-Géran," said Louis coldly.
The disappointed courtier bowed, and was about to retire, when Marie de
Medicis met his eye, and its expression was far from satisfactory.
"MM. de Praslin and de Saint-Géran have both, nevertheless, merited high
distinction, Sire," she said anxiously. "Your pledge for the future will
suffice, however, as they are both young enough to wait."
"Be it so, Madame," rejoined her son, who was becoming weary of the
rapacity of his loyal subjects and faithful friends. "Gentlemen, your
services shall not be forgotten on the next vacancy."
And thus, as Bassompierre has recorded, did M. de Saint-Géran "extort
the promise" of a _bâton_.
"And you, M. de Bassompierre," exclaimed the Queen-mother, as in
advancing up the hall their Majesties found themselves beside him,
"unlike the others, you have put in no claim."
"Madame," was the dignified reply, "it is not at such a moment as this,
when we have merely done our duty, that we should seek for reward; but I
trust that when by some important service I may deserve to be
remembered, the King will grant me both wealth and honours without any
claim upon my own part."
Louis hesitated for a moment, and then, with a slight bow, passed on;
and he had no sooner entered his private closet, still accompanied by
his mother, than a herald announced in a loud voice that a great public
council would be held on the following day at the meeting of the
Parliament.
It might well be imagined that when she retired Marie de Medicis left
grateful hearts behind her, but such was not the case; lavish as she had
proved upon this occasion, she was far from having satisfied those who
had assisted in the arrest of the Prince, and who did not fail openly to
express their discontent.[255]
During this time the Dowager-Princess of Condé had been apprised of the
arrest of her son; and, maddened by the intelligence, she had
immediately rushed out of her house on foot, and hurried to the Pont
Neuf, crying as she went, "To arms! To arms!"
"It is Madame de Nemours!" shouted the crowd which gathered about her.
"Long live Madame de Nemours!"
"Long live Madame de Nemours!" echoed a voice, which was immediately
recognized as that of the shoemaker Picard, who had, since his insult to
the Maréchal d'Ancre, been the idol of the mob. "Concini has
assassinated the first Prince of the Blood in the Louvre!"
Even this announcement, however, failed in the effect which had been
anticipated by the Princess, whose object was to accomplish the rescue
of her son; for while the respectable citizens hastened to close their
shops and to place their families in safety, the lower orders rushed
towards the hôtel of the Maréchal d'Ancre in the Faubourg St. Germain.
The doors were driven in, furniture and valuables to the amount of two
hundred thousand crowns were destroyed, and lighted torches were applied
to the costly hangings of the apartments, which soon caused the carved
and gilded woodwork to ignite; while a portion of the mob at the same
time attacked the house of Corbinelli his secretary; and soon the two
residences presented only a mass of bare and blackened walls. M. de
Liancourt, the Governor of Paris, opposed his authority in vain; he was
hooted, driven back, and finally compelled to retire. Couriers were
despatched to the Louvre to inform the Queen-mother of the popular
tumult, but no orders were issued in consequence; the counsellors of
Marie de Medicis deeming it desirable that the populace should be
permitted to expend their violence upon the property of Concini, rather
than turn their attention to the rescue of the Prince, until the public
excitement had abated.
The arrest of M. de Condé had alarmed all the leaders of the late
faction, who hastened to secure their own safety. Bouillon, as we have
stated, had already reached Charenton; and the Duc de Vendôme had fled
in his turn on learning that all egress from the Louvre was forbidden,
and that the outlets of the palace were strongly guarded. M. de Mayenne,
who had hitherto remained in the capital, awaiting the progress of
events, followed his example attended by a strong party of his friends.
The Duc de Guise and the Prince de Joinville, alarmed lest they should
be involved in the ruin of Condé through the machinations of Concini,
with whom they were at open feud, hastened to Soissons, in order to join
M. de Mayenne, whither they were shortly followed by the young Count and
his mother; and, finally, the Duc de Nevers, who had indulged in a vain
dream of rendering himself master of the Turkish empire through the
medium of the Greeks, by declaring himself to be a descendant of the
Paleologi, suddenly halted on his way to Germany, and declared himself
determined to join the new faction of the Princes.[256]
These defections created a great void at the Louvre, but the
Queen-mother disdained to express her mortification; and, on the
contrary, affected the most entire confidence in the nobles who still
maintained their adherence to the Crown.
She was well aware that Condé had lost much of his popularity by
abandoning the interests of the people at the Treaty of Loudun, and that
the Protestants similarly resented the selfishness with which he had
sacrificed their cause to his ambition; while she had, moreover,
ascertained that the flight of the Duc de Guise and his brother had been
simply induced by misrepresentation, and that through the medium of the
females of their family they might readily be recalled. These
circumstances gave her courage; and when, on the morning of the 2nd of
September, she came to the council of war, which was held in the
Augustine Monastery and presided over by the Maréchal de Brissac,
accompanied by her two sons, she remarked with undisguised gratification
that more than two thousand nobles were already assembled. When the
King, the Queen-mother, Monsieur, the great dignitaries, and the
ministers had taken their seats, the doors were thrown open to all who
chose to enter; and in a few moments the vast hall was densely crowded.
Silence was then proclaimed; M. de Brissac declared that the session was
open, and the President Jeannin forthwith commenced reading, in the name
of the King, the celebrated declaration explaining the arrest of the
Prince de Condé; proclaiming him a traitor, and, finally, promising a
free pardon to all who had aided and abetted him in his disloyal
practices, on condition of their appearing within fifteen days to
solicit the mercy of his Majesty, in default of which concession they
would be involved in the same accusation of _lèse-majesté_[257]
More than once, during the delivery of this discourse, many of the
nobles who were attached to the faction of the Princes gave utterance to
a suppressed murmur; but it was not until its close that they openly and
vociferously expressed their dissatisfaction. Then, indeed, the hall
became a scene of confusion and uproar which baffles all description;
voice was heard above voice; the clang of weapons as they were struck
against the stone floor sounded ominously; and the terrified young King,
after glancing anxiously towards De Luynes, who returned his look by
another quite as helpless, fastened his gaze upon his mother as if from
her alone he could hope for protection. Nor was his mute appeal made in
vain, for although an expression of anxiety could be traced upon the
noble features of Marie de Medicis, they betrayed no feeling of alarm.
She was pale but calm, and her eyes glanced over the assembly as
steadily as though she herself played no part in the drama which was
enacting before her. For a few moments she remained motionless, as if
absorbed in this momentous scrutiny; but ultimately she turned and
uttered a few words in a low voice to Bassompierre, who was standing
immediately behind her; and she had no sooner done so than, accompanied
by M. de Saint-Géran, the captain of the King's Guard, he left the hall.
In an instant afterwards both officers re-appeared, followed by a
company of halberdiers, who silently took up their position in the rear
of the sovereign and his mother; and the Queen no sooner saw the gleam
of their lances than she caused it to be intimated to the President
Jeannin that she desired to address the meeting.
When her purpose was communicated to the assembly silence was by degrees
restored; and then the clear, full voice of Marie de Medicis was heard
to the furthest recesses of the vast apartment.
"Nobles and gentlemen," she said with a gesture of quiet dignity, "as
Regent of France I have also a right to speak on an occasion of this
importance; for since the death of Henry the Great, my lord and husband,
it is I who have constantly borne the burthen of the Crown. You know,
one and all, how many obstacles I have had to oppose, how many intrigues
to frustrate, how many dangers to overcome. An intestine war throughout
the kingdom; disaffection alike in Paris and in the provinces; and amid
all these struggles for the national welfare, I had to combat a still
more gnawing anxiety. I had to watch over the safety of the King my son,
and that of the other Children of France; and never, gentlemen, for one
hour, did my dignity as a Queen cause me to forget my tenderness as a
mother. I might have been sustained in this daily struggle--I might
have found strong arms and devoted hearts to share in my toils, and in
my endeavours--but that these have too often failed me, I need scarcely
say. Thus, then, if any among you complain of the past, they accuse me,
for the King my son having delegated his authority to myself can have
incurred no blame, nor do I wish to transfer it to another. Every
enterprise which I have undertaken has had the glory and prosperity of
France as its sole aim and object. If I have at times been mistaken in
my estimate of the measures calculated to ensure so desirable a result,
I have at least never persisted in my error; I have surrounded myself
with able and conscientious counsellors; MM. de Villeroy and de Jeannin
were chosen by the most ancient and noble families in the kingdom--the
Cardinal de la Valette and the Bishop of Luçon-Richelieu are my
advisers--the estimable Miron, Provost of Paris, in conjunction with
Barbin represent the _tiers-état_--while as regards the people, I have
ever been careful to mete out justice to them with an equal hand."
Marie paused for an instant, and she had no sooner done so than loud
shouts echoed through the cloistral arches, as the crowd vociferously
and almost unanimously responded, "You have--you have. Long live
the Queen!"
"Nor did I limit the sacred duties of my mission here," pursued the
Regent; "I had work to do without as well as within the kingdom; and it
has not been neglected. I undertook and accomplished a successful
negotiation for the marriage of the King my son with the Infanta of
Spain; our ancient rival England has become our ally; Germany has learnt
to fear us; and the Princes of Italy have bowed their heads before our
triumphant banners. Have I not then, gentlemen, consulted in all things
the honour of France, and increased her power? Have I not compelled
respect where I have failed to secure amity? Can you point to one act of
my authority by which the interests of the nation have been compromised,
or her character tarnished in the eyes of foreign states? I boldly await
your answer. Thus much for our external relations, and now I appeal to
your justice; I ask you with equal confidence if, when within the
kingdom faction after faction was detected and suppressed, I yielded to
any sentiment of undue vengeance? Has not every outbreak of unprovoked
disaffection rather tended to exhibit the forbearance of the King my son
and my own? Need I recall the concessions which we have made to those
who had sought to injure us? Need I ask you to remember that we have
bestowed upon them governments, titles, riches, high offices of state,
and every honour which it was in our power to confer? What more then
could you require or demand, gentlemen? And yet, when the King my son
has pardoned where he might have punished, you have responded by
seditious shouts, by wilful disrespect, and even by attempts against his
royal person! It was time for him to exert his prerogative,
gentlemen,--you have compelled him to assert his power, and yet you
murmur! Now, with God's help, we may hope for internal peace. France
must have lost her place among the European nations had she been longer
permitted to prey upon her own vitals. One individual alone could have
condemned her to this self-slaughter, and we have delivered her from the
peril by committing that individual to the Bastille."
As the Queen-mother uttered these words her voice was drowned in the
universal burst of fury and violence which assailed her on all sides;
nobles, citizens, and people alike yelled forth their discontent, but
the unquenchable spirit of Marie de Medicis did not fail her even at
this terrible moment. Rising with the emergency, she seemed rather to
ride upon the storm than to quail beneath it; her eyes flashed fire, a
red spot burned upon her cheek, and scorn and indignation might be read
upon every feature of her expressive countenance. When the tumult was at
its height she rose haughtily from her seat, and striking her clenched
hand violently upon the table before her, she exclaimed in a tone of
menace: "How now, Counts and Barons! Is it then a perpetual revolt upon
which you have determined? When pardon and peace are frankly offered to
you, and when both should be as welcome to all good Frenchmen as a calm
after a tempest, you reject it? Do you hold words less acceptable than
blows? Do you prefer the sword to the hand of friendship? Be it even as
you will then. If friendship does not content you we will try the sword,
for clemency exerted beyond a certain limit degenerates into weakness.
You shall have no reason to deem your rulers either feeble or cowardly.
You have here and now defied me, and I accept the defiance. Do you
desire to know how I respond? It is thus. In the name of the King my son
and in my own, in the name of my offended dignity and in the name of
France, I, in my turn, declare the most stringent and unsparing war
against rebellion, be it the work of whom it may. Neither high blood nor
ancient title shall suffice to screen a traitor; war, war to the death,
shall be henceforward my battle-cry against the malcontents who are
striving to decimate the nation; and do not delude yourselves with the
belief that I shall be single-handed in the struggle, for I will call
the people to my aid, and the people will maintain the cause of their
sovereigns. We will try our strength at last, and the strife will be a
memorable one; our sons shall relate it with awe and terror to their
descendants, and it will be a tale of shame which will cleave to your
names for centuries to come. Ah, gentlemen, the rule of a woman has
rendered you over-bold; and you have forgotten that there have been
women who have wielded a sceptre of iron. Look to England--is there no
sterner lesson to be learnt there? Or think you that Marie de Medicis
fears to emulate Elizabeth? You have mistaken both yourselves and me. My
forbearance has not hitherto grown out of fear; but the lion sometimes
disdains to struggle with the tiger, not because he misdoubts his own
strength, but because he cares not to lavish it idly. I also feel my
strength, and when the fitting moment comes, it shall be put forth. To
your war-cry I will answer with my war-cry; to your leaders I will
oppose my leaders; and when you shout Condé and Mayenne! I will answer
triumphantly Louis de France and Gaston d'Orléans! Draw the sword of
rebellion if it be too restless to remain in the scabbard; you will not
find me shrink from the flash of steel; and should you take the field I
will be there to meet you. Rally your chiefs; the array can have no
terrors for me, prepared as I am to confront you with some of the best
and the bravest in all France. Deny this if you can, you who seek to
undermine the throne, and to sacrifice the nation to your own ambitious
egotism, and I will confound you with the names of Guise, Montmorency,
Brissac, Sully, Bassompierre, Lesdiguières, Marillac, and Ornano; these,
and many more of the great captains of the age, will peal out my
war-cry, and rally round the threatened throne of their legitimate
sovereign. My son will be in the midst of them; and mark me well,
gentlemen, the struggle shall no sooner have commenced than every
pampered adventurer who has poisoned the ear of the monarch, and steeled
his heart against his mother, shall be crushed under her heel; and
should he dare to raise his head, I will assign to him as his
armour-bearer the executioner of Paris."
Never before had the Regent evinced such an amount of energy; never
before had she so laid bare the secret workings of her soul. The
adherents of the Princes trembled as they discovered with how formidable
an enemy they should be called thenceforward to contend; while the
majority of the nobles who were faithful to the royal cause, and above
all those whose names she had so proudly quoted, uttered loud
acclamations of delight and triumph.
Bewildered by the daring of his mother, Louis once more sought for
support from his favourite, but De Luynes was in no position to afford
it. The allusion to himself with which Marie de Medicis had concluded
her harangue was too palpable to be mistaken, and he felt that should
she maintain her purpose he was lost. Even Richelieu, as if crushed
beneath the impassioned eloquence of the Regent, sat with drooping head
and downcast eyes; and meanwhile Marie herself, after having glanced
defiantly over the assembly, calmly resumed her seat, and desired that
the business of the meeting might proceed.
Before the sitting closed it was determined that the army should be
placed upon the war footing, and that a levy of six thousand Swiss
should immediately be made; and this arrangement completed, the
Queen-mother proceeded to attempt by every means in her power a
reconciliation with the Guises.
For this purpose she despatched four nobles in whom she could confide to
Soissons, to negotiate with the Princes, nor was it long ere they
ascertained that individual jealousy had tended to create considerable
disunion among them; and that each appeared ready, should any plausible
pretext present itself, to abandon the others. Under these circumstances
it was not difficult to convince the Due de Guise and his brother that
no hostile design had ever been entertained against them, and to induce
them to admit their regret at the hasty step which they had taken,
together with their anxiety to redeem it. The Duc de Longueville was
equally ready to effect his reconciliation with the Court; and having
arranged with the royal envoys the terms upon which they consented to
return, they were severally declared innocent of all connivance with the
rebellious Princes. The Duc de Nevers, however, refused to listen to any
compromise with the Crown; and, in defiance of the royal command,
continued his endeavours to possess himself of the fortresses of
Champagne, which were not comprised in his government.[258]
The persevering disaffection of M. de Nevers occasioned the disgrace of
Du Vair, who betrayed an indisposition to proceed against him which so
irritated Marie de Medicis that she induced the King to deprive him of
the seals, and to bestow them upon Mangot, making Richelieu Secretary of
State in his place; that wily prelate having already, by his great
talent and ready expedients, rendered himself almost indispensable to
his royal patroness.
The arrest of the Prince de Condé had restored the self-confidence of
Concini, who shortly afterwards returned to Court and resumed his
position with an arrogance and pretension more undisguised than ever.
The Maréchale, however, had never recovered from the successive shocks
to which she had been subjected by the death of her child and the
destruction of her house; but had fallen into a state of discouragement
and melancholy which threatened her reason.[259] For days she shut
herself up in her apartments, refusing to receive the most intimate of
her friends, and complaining that she was bewitched by those who looked
at her.[260] Her domestic misery was, moreover, embittered by the public
hatred, of which, in conjunction with her husband, she had become more
than ever the object. It would appear that the injury already inflicted
upon the Italian favourites had stimulated rather than satiated the
detestation of the people for both of them. Every grievance under which
the lower orders groaned was attributed to the influence of Concini and
his wife; they were accused of inciting the Queen-mother to the acts of
profusion by which the nation was impoverished; while every
disappointment, misfortune, or act of oppression was traced to the same
cause. Many affected to believe that Marie was the victim of sorcery,
and that such was the real source of the influence of Leonora; and thus
the heart-broken mother and unhappy wife, whose morbid imagination had
caused her to consider her trials as the result of magical arts, was
herself accused of having employed them against her royal
benefactress.[261]
The nomination of Richelieu as Secretary of State had been effected
through the influence of Concini, who in vain endeavoured to persuade
him to resign the bishopric of Luçon, as incompatible with his new
duties. The astute prelate had more extended views than those of his
patron; nor was it long ere he succeeded in arousing the jealousy of the
Maréchal, and in convincing him, when too late, that he had, while
endeavouring to further his own fortunes, only raised up a more
dangerous and potent enemy than any to whom he had hitherto been
opposed. Richelieu had no sooner joined the ministry than he made
advances to the ancient allies of Henri IV, whom he regarded as the true
friends of France; and for the purpose of conciliating those whose
support he deemed most essential to the welfare of the kingdom, he
hastened to despatch ambassadors to the Courts of England, Holland, and
Germany, who were instructed to explain to the several monarchs to whom
they were accredited the reasons which had induced Louis XIII to arrest
the Prince de Condé, and to assure them that the measures adopted by the
French Court were not induced, as had been falsely represented, by any
desire to conciliate either Rome or Spain. To this assurance he
subjoined a rapid synopsis of the means employed by the Queen-mother to
ensure the peace of the kingdom, and the efforts made by the Prince to
disturb it; and, finally, he recapitulated the numerous alliances which
had taken place between the royal families of France and Spain during
several centuries as an explanation of the close friendship which
existed between the two countries.[262] Meanwhile considerable
difficulty was experienced in the equipment of the army which had been
raised. The royal treasury was exhausted, and in several provinces the
revolted nobles had possessed themselves of the public monies; financial
edicts were issued which created fresh murmurs among the citizens; the
Princes assumed an attitude of stern and steady defiance; and the year
1616 closed amid apprehension, disaffection, and mistrust.
FOOTNOTES:
[196] Armand Jean du Plessis, afterwards the celebrated Cardinal de
Richelieu, was the third son of François du Plessis, Seigneur de
Richelieu, Knight of the Orders of the King, and Grand Provost of
France. He was born in Paris, on the 5th of September 1585; and having
been educated with great care, became an accomplished scholar. At the
age of twenty-two years he was received as a member of the Sorbonne; and
having obtained a dispensation from Paul V for the bishopric of Luçon,
was consecrated at Rome by the Cardinal de Givry, in 1607. On his return
to France he was introduced to the notice of Marie de Medicis by the
Marquise de Guercheville and the Maréchal d'Ancre.
[197] Bassompierre, _Mém_. p. 96.
[198] Richelieu, _Hist. de la Mère et du Fils_, vol. i. p. 334.
[199] Continuation of Mézeray. _Hist. de France_.
[200] _Vie du Duc d'Epernon_, book iii.
[201] Le Vassor, vol. i. pp. 439, 440. Mézeray, vol. xi. pp. 98, 99.
D'Estrées, _Mém_. p. 408.
[202] Nicolas Le Jay, Baron de Tilly, etc., Keeper of the Seals, and
First President of the Parliament of Paris. He rendered important
services both to Henri IV and Louis XIII, and acquired great celebrity
as a learned scholar and an upright minister. He died in 1640.
[203] Richelieu, _Mém_. book vi. pp. 268-272.
[204] Matthieu, _Hist, des Derniers Troubles_, p. 550.
[205] Fontenay-Mareuil, _Mém_. pp. 290-298.
[206] Henri, Duc de la Ferté de Sénectère, Comte de Saint-Pol et de
Châteauneuf, Vicomte de Lestrange et de Cheylard, Baron de Boulogne et
de Privas, Seigneur de Saint-Marsal, de Ligny, de Dangu, de Précy, etc.
[207] Sismondi, vol. xxii. p. 348.
[208] Mézeray, vol. xi. pp. 101, 102. Le Vassor, vol. i. p. 464.
[209] The Duque d'Usseda was the son of the Duque de Lerma.
[210] Sismondi, vol. xxii. p. 351.
[211] Sismondi, vol. xxii. pp. 352-354.
[212] _Mercure Français,_ 1615. De Rohan, _Mém_. book i. Mézeray, vol.
xi. pp. 105, 106.
[213] Le Vassor, vol. i. pp. 498, 499. _Vie du Duc d'Epernon_, book vii.
_Mercure Français_, 1616. Bassompierre, _Mém_. p. 110.
[214] Mademoiselle d'Entragues, who had endeavoured to compel
Bassompierre to fulfil the promise of marriage which he had made to her.
[215] The colonel-generalship of the Swiss Guards.
[216] The Princesse de Conti, whom he privately married.
[217] The Cardinal de Richelieu, who was exasperated at his marriage,
and through whose agency Bassompierre incurred his subsequent disgrace
and long imprisonment in the Bastille.
[218] Rambure, MS. _Mém_. vol. vi. pp. 380-386.
[219] Conference of Loudun at the close of the _Mém_. of Philippeau de
Pontchartrain, vol. vii. p, 315.
[220] Richelieu, _Mém_. vol. vii. p. 287. Le Vassor, vol. i. p. 450.
[221] Le Vassor, vol. i. p. 509. Richelieu, _Mém_. book vii. p. 288.
Pontchartrain, _Conférence de Loudun,_ p. 406. Rohan, _Mém_. p. 134.
D'Estrées, _Mém_. p. 411.
[222] Richelieu, _Hist. de la Mère et du Fils_, vol. ii. p. 14.
[223] Sismondi, vol. xxii. p. 361.
[224] Le Vassor, vol. i. p. 514.
[225] D'Estrées, _Mém_. p. 411.
[226] Sismondi, vol. xxii. p. 363.
[227] Claude Mangot, President of the Parliament of Bordeaux, and
Assistant-Secretary of State.
[228] Pierre Brulart, Seigneur de Puisieux, son of Nicolas Brulart,
Seigneur de Sillery et de Puisieux en Champagne, Chancellor of France,
was Secretary of State. In 1622 he took Montpellier, and died in 1640.
[229] M. Barbin was Comptroller of the Household of the Queen-mother. "A
man of little consequence," says Philippeau de Pontchartrain; "but
upright, and well versed in business."
[230] Rohan, _Mém_. book i. _Mém. de la Régence de Marie de Medicis_.
[231] Françoise Bertaut, Dame de Motteville, was the daughter of Pierre
Bertaut, Gentleman in ordinary of the Bedchamber, and of Louise Bessin
de Mathonville, of the Spanish family of Saldaña. At the age of fifteen
she married Nicolas Langlois, Seigneur de Motteville, a man already
advanced in years, but with whom she lived happy until 1641, when she
was left a widow with a very slender jointure. Two years subsequently,
at the age of twenty-two, she entered the household of Anne of Austria,
rather as a personal friend than as an official attendant; a post which
she retained for many years with honour, her sweetness of disposition
and total absence of ambition causing her to be respected by all
parties. She was present at the death of her royal mistress, who, by a
bequest of ten thousand crowns, enabled her to quit the Court, and to
devote her whole attention to the revision of her well-known Memoirs.
Intimately acquainted with Mesdames de la Fayette and de Sévigné, she
for some time maintained a constant intercourse with both; but on the
termination of her self-imposed task she retired to the convent of Ste.
Marie de Chaillot, where she died on the 29th of December 1689.
[232] Motteville, _Mém_, édition Petitot, vol. i. pp. 336, 337.
[233] Motteville, _Mém_. vol. i. p. 337.
[234] Mézeray, vol. xi. pp. iii, 112. Sismondi, vol. xxii. p. 365.
[235] Matthieu, _Hist. des Derniers Troubles_, book iii. p. 577.
[236] Bassompierre, _Mém_. pp. 113, 114.
[237] The Maréchal d'Ancre had formed a large establishment by engaging
in his service a number of impoverished French nobles, whose necessities
had induced them to accept a thousand livres a year, and to submit to
the insults which were heaped upon them by their low-born patron.
[238] Bassompierre. _Mém_. p. 114. D'Estrées, _Mém_. p. 413. Richelieu,
_Hist. de la Mère et du Fils_, vol. ii. p. 57.
[239] Rohan, _Mém_. p. 141.
[240] Le Vassor, vol. i. p. 514.
[241] Sismondi, vol. xxii. p. 371, 372. D'Estrées, _Mém_. p. 412.
Bassompierre, _Mém_. p. 114. Mézeray, vol. xi. pp. 113, 114.
[242] Bassompierre, _Mém_. pp. 121, 122.
[243] Richelieu, _Mém_. book vii. p. 333. Fontenay-Mareuil, pp.
338-358.
[244] Richelieu, _Mém_. book vii. p. 326.
[245] Sismondi, vol. xxii. p. 374.
[246] Ponce de Lauzière, Marquis de Thémines, Sénéchal de Quercy, and
subsequently Maréchal de France.
[247] Bassompierre, _Mém_. p. 117.
[248] Sismondi, vol. xxii. pp. 375, 376.
[249] Le Vassor, vol. i. pp. 541, 542. _Mém. de la Régence de Marie de
Medicis_.
[250] On Twelfth-Night in France a bean is introduced into the cake, and
the person selecting the slice in which it has been concealed is elected
King for the evening.
[251] Bassompierre, _Mém_. p. 117.
[252] Rohan, _Mém_. p. 141. Fontenay-Mareuil, p. 350. D'Estrées, p. 414.
Le Vassor, vol. i. pp. 542, 543. Brienne, _Mém_. vol. i. pp. 315, 316.
[253] Manuscript Memoirs of the Cardinal de Richelieu in the archives of
the Minister for Foreign Affairs.
[254] M. de Saint-Géran was an ensign of the gendarmes of the King's
bodyguard, and one of the nobles who were known by the soubriquet of
_The Seventeen_, among whom were the Marquis de Créquy and Bassompierre.
He was a devoted ally of the Duc de Sully.
[255] Bassompierre, _Mém_. p. 118. Sismondi, vol. xxii. pp. 378, 379.
Richelieu, _Mém_. book vii. p. 335.
[256] Richelieu, _Mém_. book vii. p. 335.
[257] Unpublished _Mém_. of Richelieu in the archives of the Foreign
Office.
[258] Richelieu, _Mém_. book vii. p. 359.
[259] Unpublished _Mém_. of Richelieu.
[260] Richelieu, _Mém_. book vii. p. 368. Fontenay-Mareuil, p. 361.
[261] Fontenay-Mareuil, book iii. p. 369.
[262] Sismondi, vol. xxii. pp. 387, 388.