CHANTILLY AND THE CONDÉS
The family of Condé derived their origin from the French town Henegau,
in Flanders, where a certain Godefroy de Condé owned part of the barony
of Condé as early as 1200. In 1335 his great-granddaughter married Jacob
de Bourbon, who in due course became the ancestor of the Royal branch of
the Bourbons. His second son received for his inheritance the barony of
Condé, and it was one of his descendants, Louis de Bourbon, who
eventually took the title of "Prince de Condé." This Louis was one of
the many sons of the Duc de Vendôme, only surviving brother of the
famous Constable, Charles de Bourbon, who met a premature death at the
Sack of Rome in 1527: a turbulent spirit who caused Henry VIII to say to
Francis I, "_Mon frère de France a là un sujet dont je ne voudrais pas
être le maître_."
[Illustration: Plate VI.
Photo. Giraudon.
ANTOINE DE BOURBON.
School of François Clouet.
Photo. Giraudon.
CHARLOTTE DE LA TREMOILLE.
School of François Clouet.
Musée Condé
_To face page 26._]
The eldest brother Antoine de Bourbon, by his marriage with Jeanne
d'Albret (daughter of Marguerite, sister of Francis I), became King of
Navarre; and their son, Henri IV, succeeded to the throne of France on
the death of Henri III de Valois. Louis de Bourbon, first Prince de
Condé,[2] married Eleonore de Roye, granddaughter of Louise de
Montmorency, a sister of the famous Constable Anne and mother of the
Huguenot chief, Gaspard de Coligny. It was no doubt owing to the
influence of his wife Eleonore--so named after the second wife of
Francis I--that the Prince de Condé embraced the Protestant cause, and
was thenceforward regarded by the Huguenots as one of their leaders.
Eleonore was on terms of great intimacy with her sister-in-law, Jeanne
d'Albret, Queen of Navarre, who had herself become a Protestant; and one
may fairly assert that if Antoine de Bourbon, King of Navarre, and his
brother Louis de Condé, had in any way equalled their noble wives in
pious sentiment and religious fervour, the Protestant Faith in France
would never have been nipped in the bud, but would have become as firmly
established there as it did in England and Germany.
As it was, the Guises of Lorraine who embraced the Catholic cause gained
considerable ground after the death of Henri II, through their cousin
Mary Stuart, Queen of France; and with the ostensible object of
furthering this cause, they also tried to supplant the Bourbon Princes,
Antoine de Navarre and Louis de Bourbon Condé, who were by right nearer
the throne. The latter during the reign of Francis II was thrown into
prison for high treason, under a false accusation brought against him
by the Guises, and condemned to death. In her despair, his unhappy wife,
Eleonore, threw herself upon her knees before the King, imploring
permission for a last interview. The young King was about to relent; but
the Cardinal of Lorraine, fearing that she might attain her object,
drove her roughly from the Royal presence. The unscrupulous Guises had
even conceived a plan of making away with this Princess before her
husband; for (as a contemporary writer tells us) they feared her
intellect and courage in proclaiming her husband's innocence. They hoped
to get rid, not only of her, but also of the King of Navarre and the
Châtillons. But at this juncture a change occurred in political affairs.
[Illustration: Plate VII.
Photo. Giraudon.
LOUIS I. DE BOURBON, PRINCE DE CONDÉ.
School of François Clouet.
Photo. Giraudon.
HENRI I. DE BOURBON, PRINCE DE CONDÉ.
School of François Clouet.
Musée Condé.
_To face page_]
Francis II, whose health had always been delicate, suddenly showed
alarming symptoms of decline. Catherine, the _Royne Mère_, cast about to
get the Regency into her own hands; and in order to check the steadily
growing power of the Guises, she resolved to recall the Bourbons,
promising to save Condé from death if they would accept her as Regent.
The King of Navarre, Antoine de Bourbon, consented to her proposition in
order to save his brother. The terrified Guises entreated Catherine to
keep Condé still in prison; since he would, if set at liberty, get the
better of them all. It is characteristic to note that when the state of
the King's health became desperate, the Guises were wholly without
sympathy; though we read that Mary Stuart nursed her dying husband
with tenderest solicitude. As soon as the King had breathed his last,
Gaspard de Coligny addressed these memorable words to those who stood
by: "_Messieurs, le roi est mort, çela nous apprend à vivre_."
The death of Francis II opened Condé's prison doors; whereupon he
insisted on proving his innocence, and claiming punishment for those who
had caused his incarceration. The Guises began to tremble, and their
friends trembled with them. Meantime, Catherine de Medicis, always
intent on her own interests, tried to placate the Protestant nobility,
and even showed toleration for the Protestant cult in various parts of
France. She endeavoured to entice Condé to her Court through the charms
of one of her Court ladies--the beautiful Isabelle de Limeuil--in order
to make him an instrument for her own purposes. Brantôme, with reference
to this, speaks of Louis de Bourbon as a man of corrupt morals. Nor
could he resist the passion shown for him by Marguerite de Lustrac,
widow of the Maréchal de Saint-André, from whom he accepted the
magnificent château of Valery, with its vast appanage, originally
intended as a dowry for Mademoiselle de Saint-André, the affianced bride
of his own son Henri I de Bourbon, who had died young, poisoned, it is
said, by her mother. Condé's irregular habits called for the severe
rebuke of Calvin, and his noble wife Eleonore was broken-hearted over
them.
Antoine, King of Navarre, the eldest of the brothers, also became a
puppet in the hands of the Queen-Mother and the Guises, who deliberately
provoked the sanguinary conflicts at Vassy between the Huguenots and the
Catholics.
Jeanne d'Albret, who sided with the Protestants, left the Court in
consequence, and to the great regret of Eleonore, retired to her kingdom
of Navarre. Had the husbands of these two great ladies been equally
desirous of keeping the peace the Massacre of St. Bartholomew would
never have taken place. Indeed, when Eleonore de Roye died at the early
age of twenty-eight the Protestants of France lost faith in Condé as
their leader, believing that it was through her influence alone that he
served their cause.
When Eleonore felt her end approaching she sent a messenger for her
husband and upon his hurrying to her bedside most generously forgave him
for all his infidelities. Her eldest son, Henri I de Bourbon, who had
shared all her anxieties and who had been her constant companion,
listened with deep emotion to her exhortations to his father that he
should remain true to the Protestant Faith; and the memory of this noble
woman prevailed with Condé after her death.
[Illustration: Plate VIII.
Photo Giraudon.
FRANÇOIS II. KING OF FRANCE.
Francois Clouet.
Bibl. Nar. Paris.
_To face page 20._]
The intriguing Catherine, after much wavering, then declared herself
upon the Catholic side, and compelled Michel de l'Hôpital, who had tried
to reconcile the two parties, to resign. The consequence of this
decision was the bloody battle of Jarnac, where Condé died the death of
a hero. No one could deny that he loved and honoured France, and that
he was a great warrior. Even the Guises, his implacable enemies,
endeavoured to conciliate him, and tried to arrange, after his wife's
death, a marriage between him and Mary Stuart. How different, if this
alliance had been accomplished, would have been the destinies of that
ill-fated Queen![3]
Henri I de Bourbon[4] succeeded his father as Prince de Condé, and
secured the friendship of Jeanne d'Albret, Queen of Navarre; so that
when the Huguenots, after the disaster of Jarnac, shut themselves up in
La Rochelle, the widow of Antoine de Bourbon appeared in their midst and
presented to them her son Henri de Béarn, together with his cousin the
young Prince de Condé. Under the guidance of Gaspard de Coligny these
two young Princes were received amongst the leaders of the Protestant
army, at that time in a critical position and in great pecuniary
straits. The young Prince de Condé disposed of most of his jewels,
whilst Coligny and Jeanne d'Albret made similar sacrifices. These jewels
were sent to Queen Elizabeth of England as security for a sum of money
forwarded by her to the Protestant forces.
Coligny seems to have thought highly of the abilities of the young Condé
Prince, to whom he deputed the command in his absence.
It is indeed remarkable that so fervent a Calvinist as Jeanne d'Albret
should have consented to the engagement of her son to Margot de France,
youngest daughter of Catherine de Medicis. It is true that the horrors
of St. Bartholomew had not then taken place, nor had the close ties of
relationship between the houses of Valois and Navarre at that date been
loosened. At the same time a marriage was arranged by Jeanne d'Albret
between Henri de Condé and Marie de Clève, daughter of the Duc de Nevers
and Marguerite de Bourbon. This lady was rich, accomplished, and of rare
beauty; and it was an open secret at the time that the Duc d'Anjou
(afterwards King Henri III) was madly in love with her.
[Illustration: Plate IX.
Photo. Giraudon.
JEANNE D'ALBRET, QUEEN OF NAVARRE.
François Clouet.
Musée Condé.
_To face page 21._]
The marriage of the Prince de Condé was an occasion for great rejoicing
amongst the Protestant party, when all at once news arrived of the
sudden death of Queen Jeanne d'Albret under suspicious circumstances. It
was rumoured that Catherine de Medicis wished to remove her before the
nuptials of her son Henri of Navarre and Margot de France. The _douce
enfant_ (as Francis I called her, when Dauphine of France) had schooled
herself well to the difficult position in which as a young wife she
found herself with Diane de Poitiers; but as Queen-mother and Regent she
developed into a false and ambitious woman, who actually planned the
carnage of St. Bartholomew on the eve of her own daughter's marriage
to the chief of the Huguenot party.
It does not enter into our present work to describe the horrors for
which she was responsible on that occasion, but it is sufficient to say
that Gaspard de Coligny found his death, whilst the lives of Condé and
of the King of Navarre were only spared on the condition that they
abjured the Protestant Faith. Condé, however, at first persisted in a
refusal, although his young wife obeyed. For this reason he was summoned
before the boy King, Charles IX, who, advancing towards him, called out,
"The Mass, Death, or the Bastille, Choose!" "God will not allow," said
Condé quietly, "that I choose the first, my King! The two other
alternatives are at your pleasure." In a fury, the King rushed upon him
and would have slain him then and there, had not the Queen, Elizabeth of
Austria--the only redeeming feature of this contemptible Court--thrown
herself at the feet of her husband to prevent him. Finally, however, the
two Bourbon Princes did attend Mass, and the Cardinal de Bourbon gave
Condé and his bride the nuptial benediction in the church of St. Germain
des Prés.
But this was not enough; for both Navarre and Condé were forced to fight
against those very Huguenots whose leaders they had been; and they were
compelled to march under the command of the Duc d'Anjou against that
same La Rochelle where Condé had passed so many years with his noble
friend Gaspard de Coligny, engaged in furthering the Protestant cause.
In 1574, however, upon the death of Charles IX, Condé and Henri of
Navarre again joined the Protestant forces. Not so Marie de Clève, who
was even trying to make this a plea for a separation when she died
suddenly in giving birth to a daughter.[5] Twelve years later Condé
contracted another marriage, with Charlotte Catherine de la Trémoille.
We propose in this brief sketch of the Condé family, who eventually
became Lords of Chantilly, to say something also regarding the lives of
the Princesses de Condé, since some of them rank amongst the most noble
and interesting women of their time. Charlotte de la Trémoille[6] was
the daughter of the Duc de Thouars and Jeanne de Montmorency. She lived
with her mother in the fortified castle of Taillebourg, and was of a
romantic turn of mind and very handsome. Condé, presented by her
brother, the young Duc de Thouars, whilst he chanced to be in the
neighbourhood, paid a visit to the young lady; and although of the
opposite party--for the Trémoilles were Catholics--he came unattended.
He showed her more attention than was his usual custom, so that she fell
in love with him. She was but seventeen years of age, whilst Condé was
by that time thirty-three, but without an heir to his name. He had a
fine head and well-cut features; his expression was pensive, and
betrayed a delicate and nervous constitution. The fact of his being a
Prince of the Blood Royal and of illustrious lineage stimulated, no
doubt, Mademoiselle de la Trémoille's poetic imagination.
When, after the disaster of Angers, Condé was compelled to go into
hiding in Guernsey whilst vainly soliciting the help of Queen Elizabeth,
he saw one morning two well-equipped ships approaching the harbour. The
captain of the party presently sent one of his officers to the Prince,
bearing a letter from Charlotte de la Trémoille begging him to make use
of these, her ships. Condé, who had remained so long a helpless prisoner
on the island, embarked at once, and upon his arrival at La Rochelle
found the Princess awaiting him at that port.
A few days later the wedding was celebrated quietly at the Château de
Taillebourg: both the Princess and her brother having become adherents
of the Reformed Faith before that event took place.
In 1587 a daughter was born to Condé, named Eleonore after her noble
grandmother, who subsequently married the Prince of Orange.
* * * * *
In that same year (1587) the eighth and last religious war broke out in
France, known as the War of the Four Henris--Henri III, Henri de Guise,
Henri of Navarre, and Henri de Bourbon Condé. The first battle was
fought at Coutras, between the Duc de Joyeuse, who commanded 7,000 men
for Henri III, and the joint forces of Henri of Navarre and Henri de
Condé, who had between them but 5,000 men. The fight was a prolonged one
and ended in a victory for the two Bourbons, who both greatly
distinguished themselves, "_Messieurs_," cried Navarre, before the fight
began, "_souvenez vous que vous êtes de la maison de Bourbon. Vive Dieu!
Je vous ferai voir que je suis votre ainé!" "Et nous, vous montrerons
des bons cadets_," replied Condé.
But Duc Henri de Guise presently restored the fortunes of the Catholics
by the victories of Vimory and Auneau, wherein no less than twenty
thousand Protestants perished.
Henri III, true Valois that he was, was not, however, grateful to the
victor. Jealous of his success and growing popularity, he caused him to
be foully murdered at the Château of Blois, whither he had summoned him
from Paris. The Cardinal de Lorraine, his brother, shared his fate.
Even Catherine de Medicis, then on her deathbed, was horrified at her
son's treachery towards the Guises, who had fought so ably for the
Catholic cause. "_Vous avez fait mourir le duc de Guise!_" she
exclaimed; "_Dieu veuille que vous vous trouviez bien de l'action que
vous venez de faire. Mais vous ne pouvez, je crois, vous en felicitez.
Ce n'est pas tout de tailler, il faut savoir coudre._"
[Illustration: Plate X.
CATHERINE DE MEDICIS.
Attributed to Corneille de Lyon.
Musée Condé.
HENRI II.
François Clouet.
Bibl. Nat. Paris.
_To face page 26._]
When the news of the murder of the two Guises became known in Paris,
greatest public indignation was aroused; and the Sorbonne declared that
France ought to strive earnestly against such a King. In order to save
himself, the wretched King made overtures to Henri of Navarre,
addressing him as "brother." A reconciliation took place between them,
and together they laid siege to Paris with an army of 40,000 men.
Before, however, the assault took place, Henri III was murdered by a
fanatic monk, designating with his last breath Henri of Navarre as his
successor to the throne of France, but imploring him at the same time to
embrace the Catholic Faith.
The crown thus devolved upon Henri de Bourbon, King of Navarre, as
lineal descendant of Robert de Clermont, sixth son of Saint Louis;
whilst Henri de Bourbon Condé, his cousin, became heir-presumptive. The
health of the latter, however, began to fail, owing partly to an injury
incurred by a fall from his horse, and partly to severe attacks of
fever. Trusting to a partial recovery, he ventured too soon into the
saddle, being, according to a contemporary writer, over-fond of riding,
and in consequence suffered a relapse which ended fatally. Tifburn, the
faithful custodian of the Château de Saint-Jean d'Angely, thus describes
his unexpected death: "I was the person selected to report this sad
mischance to the Princess, and I found her coming down the stairs of the
large apartment to visit her husband. He had been ill, and had become
worse since the day before, but none would have supposed the end was so
near. When she saw me so downcast she pressed me to tell her what had
occurred. When she heard the sad news she fainted, and had to be
transported to her bed, where she sobbed and cried and would not be
consoled."
Henri IV, on hearing of this disaster, hastened to Saint-Jean d'Angely;
but on the way information reached him that two of the Princesse de
Condé's servants--her page, Belcastle, and a valet--had suddenly
disappeared, and that they had fled on two horses, kept in readiness for
them by one Brillant, known to be a procurer employed at the castle. On
hearing this, he turned the bridle of his horse, unwilling to interview
the widowed Princess.
In a letter to la belle Corisande, Duchesse de Grammont, he writes
regarding this incident as follows: "_Jeudy, le Prince de Condé ayant
couru la bague, il soupa se portant bien. A minuit lui prit un
vomissement très violent, qui luy dura jusqu'au matin. Tout le Vendredy
il demeura au lit. Le soir il soupa, et ayant bien dormi, il se leva le
Samedi matin, dina debout, et puis joua aux eschecs. Il se leva, se mit
a promener par sa chambre, devisant avec l'un et avec l'autre. Tant d'un
coup il dit: 'Baillez moi ma chaise, je sens une grande faiblesse.' Il
n'y fut assis qu'il perdit sa parole, et soudain après il rendit l'âme,
et les marques du poison sortirent soudainement._"
When Brillant was interrogated, he denied everything, but under torture
he made admissions which greatly compromised the widow of the dead
Condé. Subsequent versions of the story stated first that the Catholic
party had administered the poison; and later that the Prince had died a
death in full accordance with the malady from which he was suffering.
Nevertheless the poor Princess had to bear the burden of this terrible
charge. She was allowed to remain in her own apartments only until she
gave birth to a son, who was pronounced by all who saw him to greatly
resemble the late Prince de Condé; and the fact that Henri ultimately
consented to become godfather to the child destroyed all false
accusations. For many years, however, she was kept under close guard at
Saint-Jean d'Angely; and in the archives at Thouars there still exist
some touching letters from her to her mother and to the Constable de
Montmorency, asserting her innocence and imploring help. She also
describes her straitened circumstances, her allowance being quite
insufficient to supply the needs of her children, Eleonore and Henri.
Throughout all her trials she behaved with singular fortitude, until at
length, when her son Henri de Bourbon was recognised as the legitimate
son of his father, and thenceforth held the position of
heir-presumptive, she was allowed to return to Court. De Thou even
obtained an order directing the French Parlement to come immediately to
Saint-Germain to salute the Prince as heir to the throne until it
should please God to give children to the King himself. Henri IV
displayed considerable anxiety that his heir should receive the best
possible education, and that he should embrace the Catholic Faith, as he
himself had done. Thus the tradition of the Princes de Condé as Huguenot
Princes was abruptly broken; and Charlotte Catherine de la Trémoille
also abjured the Protestant Faith with great ceremony at Rouen. She then
endeavoured to conciliate the Catholic party, but they never forgave her
for the great services which she had rendered Condé at Guernsey.
In the preceding chapter we have related the matrimonial adventures of
this Prince, and how when Henri IV fell passionately in love with his
young wife, the beautiful Charlotte de Montmorency, he fled with her to
the Netherlands to seek the protection of Eleonore, Princess of Orange,
until the death of the King.[7]
On his return he became the principal factor in opposing the government
of Richelieu, for he was highly dissatisfied that the Regency during the
minority of Louis XIII had not passed to him, as premier Prince of the
Blood, but had been seized upon by the Queen-Mother before he could
reach France. The government of Berry was given to him with one and a
half million of francs as a sort of compensation--which, however, did
not satisfy him. Subsequently he was accused of having designs on the
throne, and although this was not proved, Richelieu, in the name of the
Regent, had him arrested. He was imprisoned in the Bastille and treated
most rigorously as a State criminal. It is greatly to the credit of his
wife that she volunteered to share his captivity. It was most touching
how she arrived at the Bastille accompanied by her little dwarf, who
refused to be separated from her. A journal[8] of that time states that
the meeting of the Princess with her unfortunate husband was most
affectionate, and that he repentantly asked her forgiveness for past
wrongs.
Owing to his precarious state of health he was soon after removed to the
Château of Vincennes, where he was allowed more liberty, and there he
could take exercise on the top of a thick wall built in the form of a
gallery. The poor Princess, once so radiant in beauty, suffered cruelly;
and at the birth of a still-born son her life was despaired of.
At last, after nearly three years of imprisonment when her little
daughter Geneviève de Bourbon was born, their prison-walls opened and
they were free at last.
But presently Henri de Montmorency, the Princess's brother, who had but
recently succeeded his father as Lord of Chantilly, was thrown into a
dungeon, whence he only emerged to be guillotined later at Toulouse.
Unfortunately he had sided with Gaston, the King's brother, in a
conspiracy against the mighty Cardinal. In vain his wife, Marie Felice
Orsini, pleaded for her husband. She herself was imprisoned for two
years for doing so; and when finally released, retired for the rest of
her life to a convent at Moulins, where she was known and much beloved
as "Sister Marie."
The whole property of the last Montmorency, the last scion of so
illustrious a race, was confiscated after his execution, and Chantilly
fell to the Crown. A house called _La Cabotière_, bearing to this day
the Royal coat-of-arms, marks this transition period; and not far from
it is the so-called _Maison de Sylvie_, which recalls Marie Felice
Orsini. It was there that she and her husband hid the poet Théophile de
Viau, who had been condemned to death; and from this retreat he sang in
charming verses the beauty and the noble qualities of the Princess under
the name of "Sylvie."
These cruelties against the Montmorencys and the Condés, Louis XIII in
after-years never ceased to regret, and when on his deathbed he wished
to atone for them he summoned Henri II, Prince de Condé, and told him
that Chantilly should be restored to his wife, the Princess, as sister
of the last Montmorency. Thus Chantilly came back to its rightful
owners.