THE GRAND CONDÉ
With Charlotte, wife of Prince Henri II de Condé, Chantilly passed into
the possession of the Princes of Bourbon Condé, and its history from
that date becomes part of the history of France. The son of Charlotte,
Louis II de Bourbon, when barely twenty-two years of age, was already
called the "Hero," in consequence of his victory at Rocroy (1643) over
the German and Spanish armies. This famous descendant of Huguenot
Princes was, at the age of four years, baptized a Roman Catholic, with
great pomp, in the Cathedral at Bourges. Both Marie de Medicis, the
Queen-Regent, and Charlotte de la Trémoille, the Dowager Princess de
Condé, were present; and the infant Prince, though so young, recited his
_Credo_ without a hitch. His education was subsequently placed in the
hands of the Jesuit Fathers at Bourges, who commended his clear
intellect and excellent memory. He received the title of "Duc
d'Enghien," a title which became thereafter hereditary in the Condé
family.
His father, Prince Henri II de Condé, thought it wise, after the
execution of his brother-in-law Henri de Montmorency and his own
imprisonment, to contract a matrimonial alliance with the all-powerful
Cardinal; especially as Richelieu was obsessed by the desire that one of
his nieces should become a Royal Princess. A marriage was therefore
arranged between the twelve-year-old Duc d'Enghien and the little
Claire-Clemence, then barely five. This _mariage de convenance_ brought
no happiness to the parties concerned, and ended in completely crushing
the unloved wife. In a book recently published, "_Sur la femme du Grand
Condé_,"[9] the excellent qualities of Claire-Clemence--so little
appreciated during her lifetime--have been set out for us. At a court
where women were chiefly given over to pleasure and amusement, it is but
natural that soberer qualities such as hers should have passed
unnoticed, or even have aroused opposition. Between her brilliant
mother-in-law, Charlotte de Montmorency, and her beautiful but vain
sister-in-law, Geneviève de Bourbon[10] (subsequently Madame de
Longueville), to the courtiers of her time Claire-Clemence appeared to
be lacking both in beauty and _savoir-faire_. A fall on the very day of
her marriage, caused by her high heels when dancing a minuet which Anne
of Austria had opened with the Duc d'Enghien, was recorded with great
glee by the Grande Mademoiselle, daughter of Gaston d'Orléans. The
prospects of this new establishment were not exactly promising, since
Claire-Clemence received no support from her parents, whom she hardly
knew. When her uncle, the Cardinal, decided to make an instrument of her
to serve his purposes, he took her away from her egoistical and immoral
father, the Maréchal de Brézé, and her sickly mother, who suffered from
transitory attacks of madness. Claire-Clemence had been educated,
therefore, in accordance with the high station for which she was
intended. After her marriage Richelieu watched over her welfare and
superintended arrangements by which she and her princely husband should
have a suitable establishment in Paris; where, it was said, the young
couple led _un train de Prince_.
Presently, however, the sharp-eyed Cardinal became aware that the Duc
d'Enghien was neglecting his young wife, and was constantly in the
company of the charming Marthe de Vigeau, of whom he had become wildly
infatuated and whom he constantly met at the house of his sister. His
Eminence, therefore, decided to send the young Duke to Burgundy, of
which province he was supposed to be the Governor; and for
Claire-Clemence he arranged a temporary retirement in the convent of
Saint-Denis, there to escape the intrigues which would, as he said,
naturally arise round a young wife so completely neglected by her
husband. She was accompanied to the convent by a small Court, consisting
of Madame la Princesse Douarière de Condé, Madame d'Aiguillon, Madame de
Longueville, and Mademoiselle de la Croix. This last was her constant
companion, and wrote to Richelieu that Her Serene Highness did
everything in the convent which His Eminence desired her to do. In very
truth she soon became a great favourite at Saint-Denis, where she did a
great deal of good among the sick and poor.
[Illustration: PLATE XI.
THE GRAND CONDÉ.
_Musée Condé._
David Teniets.]
Meanwhile the Duc d'Enghien, to annoy the Cardinal, led a very gay life
in Burgundy, in obstinate defiance of the remonstrances of his father.
Finally, he was compelled by Richelieu's orders to leave Burgundy and
join the Minister at Narbonne. There is no doubt that the Duc d'Enghien,
inordinately proud by nature, was suffering keenly under the tyranny of
the haughty Cardinal, who, although wishing his nephew-in-law well,
derived a certain amount of satisfaction from the spectacle of this
proud-spirited young Duke submissive to his yoke. The following incident
is an illustration of this. It was a long-accepted fact that Cardinal
Richelieu, as Prime Minister to his Majesty the King, should claim
precedence over the Princes of the Blood Royal. But that Mazarin, just
created Cardinal, should on his return from Italy also have this
privilege was--the young Duc d'Enghien thought--most improper.
Richelieu, on hearing of this, took up the cause of Mazarin, and even
asked d'Enghien to visit his brother, the Cardinal of Lyons. D'Enghien,
fearing that this Cardinal would also claim precedence over him at
Lyons, merely sent one of his attendants to salute him. Richelieu was
furious at this, would accept no excuse, and desired the Duke to
purge his fault at Lyons, on his way back. D'Enghien, compelled by his
father, the Prince de Condé, to submit to Richelieu's demand, was
greatly chagrined. Moreover, a message reached him immediately
afterwards to join his wife at Paris, since she was ill. He was also
informed that the details of his private life--in which he was the lover
of many women but not the husband of the one woman who was his
wife--were well known. So severe a reproof seemed at last to produce
some effect upon him, and he returned to his wife, who quickly recovered
her health and spirits when she found that her husband was kindly
disposed towards her.
Richelieu, who had watched d'Enghien since his childhood, remembered the
distinctions he had acquired as student at Bourges, and was shrewd
enough to see that the young man would more than fulfil the high
expectations placed in him. He therefore knew what he was doing when he
allied the young Condé to his own family, and selected him and Henri de
la Tour d'Auvergne (known in history as Turenne) as Commanders-in-chief
of the French Army.
After the death of Richelieu, the King, Louis XIII, showed the high
regard he cherished for his great minister by confirming and adhering to
all the dispositions made by him before he passed away. Amongst these
were the appointments of Condé and Turenne as Generals of the French
troops sent to check the advancing forces of the Spaniards. It was a
choice which showed the rare capacity of this remarkable minister in
finding the right man for the right place. Turenne was thirty-one years
of age, whilst Condé was but twenty-one. Marie de Medicis and her party
thought Condé too young for so important a post, but Louis XIII was not
to be dissuaded; and to Condé he gave the command of the army in
Picardy.
This war had been going on between France and Spain for more than ten
years. It revolved around those frontier regions to the north, near the
Somme and the Oise, which divide the original possessions of the Kings
of France from those of the former Dukes of Burgundy; and in 1643 it was
carried on with great ardour by the Spaniards under their General, Don
Francisco Melo, and his lieutenants, Fountain and Beck. With them the
Duc d'Enghien was confronted near Rocroy. On the night before the battle
the future hero was asleep amongst his soldiers on the bare ground when
all at once a French horseman who had taken service amongst the
Spaniards presented himself and asked permission to speak to the
General. In a subdued voice he told him that the Spaniards had prepared
an attack for seven o'clock that very morning. On hearing this Condé at
once called for his horse, his arms, and the traditional hat with the
white plume, which, since the time of Henri IV, had become the special
badge of a Commander-in-chief of the French Army. The Duc d'Aumale, in
his "_Histoire des Princes de Condé_," relates with much spirit the
issue of this battle. He tells us how Condé was at first repulsed by
Isembourg, and then how, by a sudden change of tactics in attacking the
rear, he reaped a complete victory.
The King, tossing upon a sick-bed, was full of anxiety regarding the
issue of this war. He had had a dream, or rather a vision, which he
narrated to the Prince de Condé (father of the Duc d'Enghien) who sat
near his bedside. "I have," he said in a faint voice, "seen your son
advancing towards the enemy. The fight was sharp, and the victory was
for a long time undecided; but at last it was ours." These are said to
have been the last words of Louis XIII.
A few days later, whilst the Requiem Mass for His Majesty was being sung
at Saint-Denis, it became known that Louis de Bourbon, the Duc
d'Enghien, had gained the battle of Rocroy, and from that time he bore
the name of the "Grand Condé." The flag taken on this occasion from the
Spaniards may still be seen at Chantilly in the gallery where paintings
by Sauveur Lecomte record his famous deeds. It is now reckoned amongst
the most precious trophies of France, since most of those preserved at
the Invalides were destroyed in 1814. All Paris desired to see the
Spanish flag taken at Rocroy, and it was therefore exhibited publicly at
the Louvre, at Notre Dame, and on the Quai. Congratulations poured in
upon the Condés, and the Duc d'Enghien was pointed out as the hero who
had won the first battle for the new four-year-old King. His father,
full of pride, wished him to return to Paris to receive the ovations of
the people; but, like a true strategist, the Duke was anxious before all
else to reap the advantages of his victory. In a characteristic letter
to his father, who was urging him to come home, he explained that the
enemy had invaded France, and that he felt that he must remain at the
head of his regiment in order to serve his country, at least as long as
their foes were on French soil.
His next act was to attack Thionville on the Moselle, upon which
occasion he succeeded in separating the troops commanded by Beck from
the main army in the Netherlands, thus displaying a great example of
military skill. It was, however, no longer from Louis XIII that he
received his orders, but from Mazarin and the amiable but weak and
irresolute Anne of Austria. Condé, in spite of his youth, had therefore
to act on his own responsibility. In the spring of 1645 he won with
Turenne the great battle of Nördlingen,[11] where he completely defeated
the Austro-Spanish general Mercy.
The Duc d'Aumale, a military man of great distinction himself, speaks of
the three victorious battles of Rocroy, Thionville, and Nördlingen as
most important in their results, unblemished by any sort of reverse. He
attributes to the Grand Condé all the qualities necessary for a great
general: foresight in his preparations and a supreme ability to vary his
tactics according to circumstances; great boldness and sudden
inspiration during action; prompt decision and a far-reaching political
outlook to confirm the victory and reap its fruits. It is rare indeed to
discover all these qualities united in one man, and to find Condé's
equals we must look to men like Frederick the Great, Napoleon, and
Wellington.
After the battle of Nördlingen, Condé fell ill of a fever, which
compelled him at length to return to Chantilly. His mother, the
Princesse Charlotte de Condé, his sister Geneviève, and his wife
Claire-Clemence, with her little son the Duc d'Albret, whom he had not
yet seen, welcomed him home. The historical "_petite chambre_" which he
had always occupied was made ready for him, and "_eau de Forges_" to
fortify his impaired strength. There he was invited to repose after the
excessive fatigues of camp-life.
The attraction Condé had felt for Marthe de Vigeau when forced to marry
the Cardinal's niece had by this time passed away; and his plans for
divorce in order to marry the woman he had so passionately adored had
been definitely abandoned since the birth of his son Henri Jules. But he
could not bring himself to show any affection to Claire-Clemence, who,
during the long absence of her husband, had retired into the Convent of
the Carmelites. It was a marriage into which he had been forced--a fact
that he could not get over. Meanwhile Marthe de Vigeau had burnt his
letters; had even gone so far as to burn his portrait; and, to make the
sacrifice complete, had taken the veil and was henceforth known as
"Soeur Marthe" in the same Carmelite Convent. But the Court was
teeming with intriguing women who all wished to approach the young hero,
around whose forehead laurels were now so thickly wreathed. Strong as
Condé was in the field, he proved weak in the hands of an intriguing
woman. In this he resembled his ancestor Louis I de Bourbon, whose name
he bore. It was his beautiful cousin, Isabelle de Montmorency, who
exercised the most pernicious influence over him. She had become the
wife of Dandelot de Coligny, who for her sake had abjured the Protestant
Faith. Ambitious to the extreme, she strove, after the death of her
husband, to attract Louis XIV whilst still a youth, and after vainly
trying to marry Charles II of England, she ended by marrying the Duke of
Mecklenburg-Schwerin.
[Illustration: PLATE XII.
THE VIRGIN AS PROTECTOR OF THE HUMAN RACE.
Photo Giraudon.
_Musée Condé._
Charonton and Vilatte.]
[Illustration: THE TOMB OF THE DUC AND DUCHESSE DE BRETAGNE AT NANTES.
Photo Giraudon.
After Designs by Perréal.]
Two other well-known women also contrived to attract the Grand Condé,
and with them he contracted a lifelong friendship. These were Louise
Marie de Gonzague of Cleves, afterwards Queen of Poland, and her sister
Anne, known as the Princess Palatine on account of her marriage with the
son of the Elector Frederic V. Their portraits, by Dumoustier, can be
seen at Chantilly. These Princesses de Gonzague, before their marriages,
lived at Paris. Princesse Louise Marie held her Court at the Hôtel
Nevers, a majestic building between the Tours de Nesle and the Pont
Neuf, which afterwards became the Hôtel Conti, and is now the Palais de
Monnaie. The two sisters were in their time leaders of Parisian society
and played an important part amongst the women of the Fronde.
A letter, one of the last that Prince Henri II de Condé wrote to his
son, refers to the neglect with which he treated his wife, and blames
him severely for not writing to her upon the occasion of the sudden
death of her only brother. It runs thus: "_Mon fils, Dieu vous bénisse.
Guérissez vous, ou il vaut mieux vous poignarder vous même, que de faire
la vie que vous faites; je rien sais ni cause ni raison, et je prie Dieu
de me consoler; je vous écris au désespoir, et suis Monsieur votre bon
père et ami._" Soon afterwards the old Prince de Condé died and his last
words and wishes were for the Duc and Duchesse d'Enghien. He, who had
always held so high the honour of his own wife, had been a great support
to Claire-Clemence in her trials. The title of Prince de Condé devolved
at his father's death upon the Grand Condé, whilst the little Duc
d'Albret bore henceforth the title of Duc d'Enghien, rendered so
celebrated by the victor of Rocroy.
But the Grand Condé did not stop here. In that same year (1648) he again
won the great battle of Lens against the Austrians. In that battle it
was said that he charged twelve times in one hour, took eight flags and
thirty-eight cannon, and made 5,000 prisoners. The Emperor Ferdinand
III, after this, felt his powers of resistance at an end and decided at
last to agree to the Peace of Westphalia, which was signed at Münster,
and brought to an end the famous Thirty Years' War. By it France
acquired the whole of Alsace except Strasbourg and Philipsbourg. Liberty
of conscience, inaugurated by Henri IV, was also recognised throughout
the rest of the world, and perfect equality of rights was enjoined
between Roman Catholic and Protestant.
Anne of Austria received the hero of Rocroy and Lens with open arms,
calling him her third son, and Louis XIV, the boy King, caressed him
constantly. He felt that he was in peril, and he trusted to Condé to
help him out of his difficulties. In order to improve finances exhausted
by the lavish expenditure of the Court, Mazarin had committed the great
mistake of forcing taxation upon all merchandise entering Paris.
Parlement had refused to conform to this kind of taxation; but the
Cardinal thought that this was the moment to again bring forward this
claim. Upon the very day when the _Te Deum_ was sung at Notre Dame for
the victory of Lens, he chose to assail the leaders of the Parlement,
amongst whom was the venerable Councillor Broussel. This was the signal
for the breaking out of the _Fronde_, and a general rising of the
people. Paul Gondi (subsequently known as Cardinal de Retz), at that
time Archbishop of Paris, came in full state to entreat the
Queen-Regent to appease the people. But Anne of Austria maintained that
this was a revolt and that the King must enforce order, upon which the
Archbishop himself joined the insurgents and even became one of their
leaders. At last the Queen-Regent, frightened by the triumphs of
Cromwell in England, gave in, and Broussel was released. To her intense
chagrin, persons of the highest aristocracy had joined the Fronde;
amongst them the Duchesse de Longueville, the Grand Condé's own sister,
the Duchesse de Bouillon, and others--all more or less vain women
seeking notoriety. They endeavoured to gain Condé over to their side,
but he resisted proudly, answering, when asked to join the Frondeurs: "I
belong to a race that cannot identify itself with the enemies of the
Crown." Anne of Austria thought it wiser to leave Paris, and in great
haste departed to Saint-Germain-en-Lay--an exodus which the Grande
Mademoiselle has described in all its picturesqueness. On account of the
suddenness of the departure no time had been given for the necessary
preparations, and the young King and the Princesses de Condé, Charlotte
de Montmorency, and Claire-Clemence, had to sleep on straw--an incident
which Louis XIV never forgot.
Condé, however, blockaded Paris, overthrew the Fronde, and on the
evening of August 18, 1649 the young King with the Queen-Regent, Condé,
and Mazarin entered Paris and reached the Palais-Royal in safety. When
Condé prepared to take his leave, the Queen turned to him and said,
"Sir, the service you have rendered the State is so great that the King
and I would be most ungrateful should ever we forget it!"