Under the Red Robe
Never was king more beloved by his subjects than Henry of Navarre, who
had so many of the frank and genial qualities which his nation valued.
There was mourning as for a father when the fanatic, Ravaillac, struck
him to the ground. It seemed strange that death should come in the
same guise to the first of the Bourbon line and the last of the Valois.
Henry had studied the welfare of the peasantry and the middle class,
striving to crush the power of the nobles whose hands were perpetually
raised one against the other. Therefore he intrusted affairs of State
to men of inferior rank, and determined that he would form in France a
nobility of the robe that should equal the old nobility of the sword.
The _paulette_ gave to all those who held the higher judicial functions
of the State the right to transmit their offices by will to their
descendants, or even to sell them as so much hereditary property.
In foreign affairs Henry had attempted to check the ambitious schemes
of the Spanish Hapsburg line and to restore the ancient prestige of
France in Europe, but he had to leave his country in a critical stage
and hope that a man would be found to carry on his great work.
Cardinal Richelieu was to have the supreme {116} honour of fulfilling
Henry IV's designs, with the energy of a nature that had otherwise very
little in common with that of the first King of the Bourbons.
Armand Jean Duplessis, born in 1585, was the youngest son of François
Duplessis, knight of Richelieu, who fought for Navarre upon the
battle-fields of Arques and Ivry. He was naturally destined for a
military career, and had seen, when he was a little child, some of the
terrible scenes of the religious wars. Peering from the window of the
château in the sad, desolate land of Poitou, he caught glimpses of
ragged regiments of French troops, or saw foreign soldiers in their
unfamiliar garb, intent on pillaging the mean huts of the peasantry.
Armand was sent to Paris at an early age that he might study at the
famous College of Navarre, where the youths of the day were well
equipped for court life. He learned Spanish in addition to Latin and
Greek, and became an adept in riding, dancing and fencing. When he
left the humble student quarter of the capital and began to mingle with
the crowd who formed the court, he soon put off the manners of a rustic
and acquired the polished elegance of a courtier of the period. He
spent much time in studying the drama of Parisian daily life, a
brilliant, shifting series of gay scenes, with the revelation now and
then of a cruel and sordid background.
The very sounds of active life must at first have startled the dreamy
youth who had come from the seclusion of a château in the marsh land.
Cavaliers in velvet and satin rallied to the roll of a drum which the
soldiers beat in martial-wise, and engaged in fierce conflicts with
each other. Acts were constantly passed to forbid duelling, but there
were many wounded every year in the streets, and the nobility would
have thought {117} themselves disgraced if they had not drawn their
swords readily in answer to an insult. Class distinctions were
observed rigidly, and the merchant clad in hodden grey and the lawyer
robed in black were pushed aside with some contempt when there was any
conflict between the aristocrats. The busy Pont Neuf seemed to be the
bridge which joined two different worlds. Here monks rubbed shoulders
with yellow-garbed Jews, and ladies of the court tripped side by side
with the gay _filles_ of the town. Anyone strolling near the river
Seine could watch, if he chose, the multicoloured throng and amuse
himself by the contrast between the different phases of society in
Paris.
Richelieu, who held the proud title of Marquis de Chillon, handled a
sword skilfully and dreamed of glory won upon battle-fields. He was
dismayed when he first heard that his widowed mother had changed her
plans for his career. A brother, who was to have been consecrated
Bishop of Luçon, had decided to turn monk, and as the preferment to the
See was in the hands of the family, it had been decided that Armand
Jean should have the benefit.
Soon a fresh vision had formed before the eyes of the handsome Bishop,
who visited Rome and made friends among the highest dignitaries. He
was tall and slender, with an oval face and the keenest of grey eyes;
rich black hair fell to his shoulders and a pointed beard lent
distinction to his face. The Louvre and the Vatican approved him, and
many protesting voices were heard when Richelieu went down to his
country diocese.
Poitou was one of the poorest districts of France, the peasants being
glad enough to get bread and chestnuts for their main food. The
cathedral was battered by warfare and the palace very wretched. Orders
to {118} Parisian merchants made the last habitable, Richelieu
declaring that, although a beggar, he had need of silver plates and
such luxuries to "enhance his nobility." The first work he had found
to do was done very thoroughly. He set the place in order and
conciliated the Huguenots. Then he demanded relief from taxation for
his overburdened flock, writing urgently to headquarters on this
subject. He had much vexation to overcome whenever he came into
contact with the priests drawn from the peasantry. These were far too
fond of gambling and drinking in the ale-houses, and had to be
prohibited from celebrating marriages by night, a custom that led to
many scandals.
But Luçon was soon too narrow a sphere for the energy and ambition of a
Richelieu. The Bishop longed to establish himself in a palace "near to
that of God and that of the King," for he combined worldly wisdom with
a zeal for religious purity. He happened to welcome the royal
procession that was setting out for Spain on the occasion of Louis
XIII's marriage to Anne of Austria, a daughter of Philip II. He made
so noble an impression of hospitality that he was rewarded by the post
of Almoner to the new Queen and was placed upon the Regent's Council.
Richelieu had watched the coronation of the quiet boy of fourteen in
the cathedral of Notre Dame, for he had walked in the state procession.
He knew that Louis XIII was a mere cipher, fond of hunting and loth to
appear in public. Marie de Medici, the Regent, was the prime mover of
intrigues. It was wise to gain her favour and the friendship of her
real rulers, the Italian Concini.
Concini himself was noble by birth, whereas his wife, the sallow,
deformed Leonora, was the daughter of a {119} laundress who had nursed
the Queen in illness. Both were extravagant, costing the Crown
enormous sums of money--Leonora had a pretty taste in jewels as well as
clothes, and Marie de Medici even plundered the Bastille of her
husband's hoards because she could deny her favourites nothing.
Richelieu rose to eminence in the gay, luxurious court where the weak,
vain Florentine presided. He had ousted other men, and feared for his
own safety when the Concini were attacked by their exasperated
opponents. Concini himself was shot, and his wife was lodged in the
Bastille on a charge of sorcery. Paris rejoiced in the fall of these
Italian parasites, and Marie de Medici shed no tears for them. She
turned to her secretary, Richelieu, when she was driven from the court
and implored him to mediate for her with Louis XIII and his favourite
sportsman-adventurer, de Luynes, who had originally been employed to
teach the young King falconry.
Richelieu went to the château of Blois where Marie de Medici had fled,
a royal exile, but he received orders from Luynes, who was in power, to
proceed to Luçon and guide his flock "to observe the commandments of
God and the King." The Bishop was exceedingly provoked by the taunt,
but he was obliged to wait for better fortunes. Marie was plotting
after the manner of the Florentines, but her plans were generally
fruitless. She managed to escape from Blois with Epérnon, the general
of Henry IV, and despite a solemn oath that she would live "in entire
resignation to the King's will," she would have had civil war against
the King and his adviser.
Richelieu managed to make peace and brought about the marriage of his
beautiful young kinswoman {120} to the Marquis of Cambalet, who was de
Luynes' nephew. He did not, however, receive the Cardinal's Hat, which
had become the chief object of his personal ambition.
The minister, de Luynes, became so unpopular, at length, that his
enemies found it possible to retaliate. He favoured the Spanish
alliance, whereas many wished to help the Protestants of Germany in
their struggle to uphold Frederick, the Elector Palatine, against
Ferdinand of Bohemia. The Huguenots rose in the south, and Luynes took
the field desperately, for he knew that anything but victory would be
fatal to his own fortunes. Songs were shouted in the Paris taverns,
satirizing his weak government. Richelieu had bought the service of a
host of scribblers in the mean streets near the Place Royale, and these
were virulent in verse and pamphlet, according to the dictates of their
master.
Fever carried off de Luynes, and the valets who played cards on his
coffin were hardly more indecent in their callousness than de Luynes'
enemies. The Cardinal's Hat arrived with many gracious compliments to
the Bishop of Luçon, who then gave up his diocese. Soon he rustled in
flame-coloured taffeta at fêtes and receptions, for wealth and all the
rewards of office came to him. As a Prince of the Church, he claimed
precedence of princes of the blood, and was hardly astonished when the
King requested him to form a ministry. In that ministry the power of
the Cardinal was supreme, and he had friends in all posts of
importance. With a show of reluctance he entered on his life-work. It
was a great and patriotic task--no less than the aggrandisement of
France in Europe.
France must be united if she were to present a solid front against the
Spanish vengeance that would threaten any change of policy. The
Queen-Regent had intended {121} to support Rome, Austria and Spain
against the Protestant forces of the northern countries. Richelieu
determined to change that plan, but he knew that the time was not yet
ripe, since he had neither a fleet nor an army to defeat such
adversaries.
The Huguenot faction must be ruined in order that France might not be
torn by internal struggles. The new French army was sent to surround
La Rochelle, the Protestant fort, which expected help from England.
The English fleet tried for fourteen days to relieve the garrison, but
had to sail away defeated. The sailors of the town elected one of
their number to be Mayor, a rough pirate who was unwilling to assume
the office. "I don't want to be Mayor," he cried, flinging his knife
upon the Council-Table, "but, since you want it, there is my knife for
the first man who talks of surrender." The spirit of resistance within
the walls of La Rochelle rose after this declaration. The citizens
continued to defy the besiegers until a bushel of corn cost 1,000
livres and an ordinary household cat could be sold for forty-five!
It was Richelieu's intention to starve the inhabitants of La Rochelle
into surrender. He had his will, being a man of iron, and held Mass in
the Protestant stronghold. He treated the people well, allowing them
freedom of religion, but he razed both the fort and the walls to the
ground and took away all their political privileges. The Huguenots
were too grateful for the liberty that was left to them to menace the
French Government any longer. Most of them were loyal citizens and
helped the Cardinal to maintain peace. In any case they did not exist
as a separate political party.
Richelieu reduced the power of the nobles by relentless {122} measures
that struck at their feudal independence. No fortresses were to be
held by them unless they lived on the frontiers of France, where some
defence was necessary against a foreign enemy. When their strong
castles were pulled down, the great lords seemed to have lost much of
their ancient dignity. They were forbidden to duel, and dared not
disobey the law after they had seen the guilty brought relentlessly to
the scaffold. The first families of France had to acknowledge a
superior in the mighty Cardinal Richelieu. Intendants were sent out to
govern provinces and diminish the local influence of the landlords.
Most of these were men of inferior rank to the nobility, who found
themselves compelled to go to the wars if they wished to earn
distinction. The result was good, for it added many recruits to the
land and sea forces.
In 1629, the Cardinal donned sword and cuirass and led out the royal
army to the support of the Duke of Mantua, a French nobleman who had
inherited an Italian duchy and found his rights disputed by both Spain
and Savoy. Louis XIII accompanied Richelieu and showed himself a brave
soldier. Their road to Italy was by the Pass of Susa, thick with snow
in the early spring and dangerous from the presence of Savoy's hostile
troups. They forced their way into Italy, and there Richelieu remained
to make terms with the enemy, while Louis returned to his kingdom.
Richelieu induced both Spain and Savoy to acknowledge the rights of the
Duke of Mantua, and then turned his attention to the resistance which
had been organized in Southern France by the Protestants under the Duke
of Rohan. The latter had obtained promises of aid from Charles I of
England and Philip IV of Spain, but found that his allies deserted him
at a critical {123} moment and left him to face the formidable army of
the Cardinal. The Huguenots submitted to their fate in the summer of
1629, finding themselves in a worse plight than they had been when they
surrendered La Rochelle, for Richelieu treated with them no longer as
with a foreign power. He expected them to offer him the servile
obedience of conquered rebels. Henceforth he exerted himself to
restore the full supremacy of the Catholic faith in France by making as
many converts as was possible and by opening Jesuit and Capuchin
missions in the Protestant places. "Some were brought to see the truth
by fear and some by favour." Yet Richelieu did not play the part of a
persecutor in the State, for he was afraid of weakening France by
driving away heretics who might help to increase her strength in
foreign warfare. He was pleased to find so many of the Huguenots loyal
to their King, and rejoiced that there would never be the possibility
of some discontented nobleman rising against his rule with a Protestant
force in the background. The Huguenots devoted their time to peaceful
worship after their own mind, and waxed very prosperous through their
steady pursuit of commerce.
Richelieu returned to France in triumph, having won amazing success in
his three years' struggle. He had personal enemies on every side, but
for the moment these were silenced. "In the eyes of the world, he was
the foremost man in France." For nineteen years he was to be the
King's chief minister, although he was many times in peril of losing
credit, and even life itself, through the jealous envy of his superiors
and fellow-subjects.
Mary de Medici forsook the man she had raised to some degree of
eminence, and declared that he had {124} shown himself ungrateful. The
nobility in general felt his power tyrannical, and the clergy thought
that he sacrificed the Church to the interests of the State in
politics. Louis XIII was restive sometimes under the heavy hand of the
Cardinal, who dared to point out the royal weaknesses and to insist
that he should try to overcome them.
Richelieu was very skilful in avoiding the pitfalls that beset his path
as statesman. He had many spies in his service, paid to bring him
reports of his enemies' speech and actions. Great ladies of the court
did not disdain to betray their friends, and priests even advised
penitents in the Confessional to act as the Cardinal wished them. When
any treachery was discovered, it was punished swiftly. The Cardinal
refused to spare men of the highest rank who plotted against the King
or his ministers, for he had seen the dangers of revolt and decided to
stamp it out relentlessly. Some strain of chivalry forbade him to
treat women with the same severity he showed to male conspirators. He
had a cunning adversary in one Madame de Chevreuse, who would ride with
the fearless speed of a man to outwit any scheme of Richelieu.
[Illustration: An Application to the Cardinal for his Favour (Walter
Gay)]
The life of a king in feeble health was all that stood between the
Cardinal and ruin, and several times it seemed impossible that he
should outwit his enemies. Louis XIII fell ill in 1630. At the end of
September he was not expected to survive, and the physicians bade him
attend to his soul's welfare.
The Cardinal's enemies exulted, openly declaring that the King's
adviser should die with the King. The heir to the throne was Louis'
brother Gaston, a weak and cowardly prince, who detested the minister
in office and hoped to overthrow him. When the sufferer {125}
recovered there was much disappointment to be concealed. The
Queen-Mother had set her heart on Marillac being made head of the army
in Richelieu's place, and had secret designs to make Marillac's
brother, then the guard of the seals, the chief minister.
Louis was induced to say that he would dismiss the Cardinal when he was
completely recovered from his illness, but he did not feel himself
bound by the promise when he had rid himself of Marie de Medici and
felt once again the influence of Richelieu. He went to Versailles to
hunt on November 11th, 1630, and there met the Cardinal, who was able
to convince him that it would be best for the interests of France to
have a strong and dauntless minister dominating all the petty offices
in the State instead of a number of incapable, greedy intriguers such
as would be appointed by Marie de Medici. On this Day of Dupes the
court was over-confident of success, believing that the Cardinal had
fled from the disgrace that would shortly overtake him. The joy of the
courtiers was banished by a message that Marillac was to be dismissed.
The Queen-Mother knew at once that her schemes had failed, and that her
son had extricated himself from her toils that he might retain
Richelieu.
Marshal Marillac and his brother were both condemned to death. Another
noble, Bassompierre, was arrested and put in the Bastille because he
was known to have sympathized with the Cardinal's enemies. Richelieu
did not rid himself so easily of Marie de Medici, who was his deadliest
enemy. She went into banishment voluntarily, but continued to devise
many plots with the Spanish enemies of France, for she had no scruples
in availing herself of foreign help against the hated minister.
{126}
After the Day of Dupes, Richelieu grasped the reins of government more
firmly. He asked no advice, and feared no opposition to his rule. His
foreign policy differed from that pursued by Marie de Medici, because
he realized that France could never lead the continental powers until
she had checked the arrogance of Spanish claims to supremacy. It seems
strange that he should support the Protestant princes of Germany
against their Catholic Emperor when the Thirty Years' War broke out,
but it must be remembered that the Emperor, Ferdinand II, was closely
allied to the King of Spain, and that the success of the former would
mean a second powerful Catholic State in Europe. The House of Austria
was already strong and menaced France in her struggle for ascendancy.
In 1635, war was formally declared by France against the Emperor
Ferdinand and Spain. Richelieu did not live to see the conclusion of
this war, but he had the satisfaction of knowing that, at its close,
France would be established as the foremost of European nations, and he
felt that the result would be worth a lavish expenditure of men and
money. In 1636, France was threatened by a Spanish invasion, which
alarmed the people of the capital so terribly that they attacked the
minister who had plunged them into warfare. Richelieu displayed great
courage and inspired a patriotic rising, the syndics of the various
trades waiting on the King to offer lavish contributions in aid of the
defence of Paris. Louis took the field at the head of a fine army
which was largely composed of eager volunteers, and the national danger
was averted.
Harassed by the cares of war, the Cardinal delighted in the gratitude
of men of letters whom he took under his protection. He founded the
famous Academy of {127} France and had his own plays performed at Ruel,
the century-old château, where he gave fêtes of great magnificence.
His niece, Mme. de Cambalet, was made Duchesse D'Aiguillon that she
might adorn the sphere in which the Cardinal moved so royally. She was
a beautiful woman of simple tastes, and yearned for a life of
conventual seclusion as she received the homage of Corneille or visited
the salon of the brilliant wit, Julie de Rambouillet.
Richelieu had a dozen estates in different parts of France and spent
vast sums on their splendid maintenance. He adorned the home of his
ancestors with art treasures--pictures by Poussin, bronzes from Greece
and Italy, and the statuary of Michael Angelo. His own equestrian
statue was placed side by side with that of Louis XIII because they had
ridden together to great victory. The King survived his minister only
a few months; Richelieu died on December 4th, 1642, and Louis XIII in
the following May. They left the people of France submissive to an
absolute monarchy.
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