A GALLANT OF LORRAINE
VOL. I.
“C’étoit un homme de grande qualité, beau, bien fait, quoique d’une
taille un peu épaisse. Il avoit bien de l’esprit et d’un caractère
fort galant. Il avoit du courage, de l’ambition et l’âme du grand
roi.”
BUSSY-RABUTIN TO MADAME DE SCUDÉRY,
AUGUST 16, 1671.
[Illustration:
FRANÇOIS, SEIGNEUR DE BASSOMPIERRE, MARQUIS D’HAROUEL, MARÉCHAL DE
FRANCE.
From an engraving by Lasne.
[_Frontispiece_]
A GALLANT
OF LORRAINE
FRANÇOIS, SEIGNEUR DE BASSOMPIERRE,
MARQUIS D’HAROUEL, MARÉCHAL
DE FRANCE (1579-1646)
BY
H. NOEL WILLIAMS
AUTHOR OF “FIVE FAIR SISTERS,” “A PRINCESS OF INTRIGUE,”
“THE BROOD OF FALSE LORRAINE,” ETC.
_IN TWO VOLUMES_
_With 16 Illustrations_
VOL. I
_LONDON: HURST & BLACKETT, LTD.
PATERNOSTER HOUSE, E.C._
PREFATORY NOTE
Although the _Mémoires_ of the Maréchal de Bassompierre are acknowledged
to be one of the chief authorities for the history of France during the
early part of the seventeenth century, they have never been translated
into English, nor, if we except the charming but all too brief sketch of
the marshal by Comte Boudet de Puymaigre in his _Poètes et Romanciers de
la Lorraine_ (Paris, 1848), has any biography of their author yet been
attempted. That such should be the case is certainly very surprising,
since seldom can a man have led so eventful a life, or played so many
different parts with distinction, as did François de Bassompierre.
Soldier, courtier, diplomatist, gallant and wit, he was to the Courts of
Henri IV and Louis XIII very much what the celebrated Maréchal de
Richelieu was to that of Louis XV, and when on that fatal February day
in 1631 the gates of the Bastille closed upon him, not to reopen for
twelve long years, one of the most interesting careers in French history
practically terminated. In my endeavour to give a full and authentic
account of this career, I have naturally found my chief source of
information in Bassompierre’s own _Mémoires_, which he wrote, or rather
arranged and revised, during his imprisonment in the Bastille; but I
have also consulted a large number of other works, both contemporary and
modern. Most of these are mentioned either in the text or the footnotes,
but I desire to take this opportunity of acknowledging my great
indebtedness to the admirable notes of the Marquis de Chantérac, who so
ably edited the edition of the marshal’s _Mémoires_ published by the
Société de l’Histoire de France.
H. NOEL WILLIAMS.
LONDON, _May_, 1921.
CONTENTS
VOL. I
CHAPTER I
Birth of François de Bassompierre--Origin of the Bassompierre family--A
romantic legend--His grandfather--His father--His early years--He and
his younger brother Jean are sent to the University of Pont-à-Mousson,
and afterwards to that of Ingoldstadt--Their studies at
Ingoldstadt--Death of their father, Christophe de Bassompierre--Journey
of the two brothers through Italy--Their return to Lorraine.....pp. 1-14
CHAPTER II
Visit of the Bassompierre family to Paris--François dances in a ballet
before Henri IV at Monceaux--He is presented to the King, who receives
him very graciously--He decides to enter the service of Henri IV--He
escorts his Majesty’s mistress, Gabrielle d’Estrées, Duchesse de
Beaufort, to Paris--Sudden illness and death of the duchess--Extravagant
grief of Henri IV, who, however, soon finds consolation in the society
of Henriette d’Entragues--Affray between the Prince de Joinville and the
Grand Equerry Bellegarde at Zamet’s house, where the King is
staying--Visit of Bassompierre to Lorraine--He returns to Paris.....pp. 15-29
CHAPTER III
Bassompierre accompanies Henri IV in his campaign against Charles
Emmanuel of Savoy--His narrow escape at the taking of Montmélian--He
goes with the King to visit Henriette d’Entragues, Madame de Verneuil,
at La Côte-Saint-André, and reconciles Henri IV with his
mistress--Marriage of the King to Marie de’ Medici--Presentation of
Madame de Verneuil to the Queen--Visit of Bassompierre to Lorraine--He
returns to find the royal _ménage_ in a very troubled state, owing to
the jealousy of the wife and the mistress--He assists at a conference,
in which the Chancellor recommends the King to get rid of Madame de
Verneuil at any cost--He accompanies the Maréchal de Biron on a visit to
England--He is present at the arrest of Biron at Fontainebleau, in June,
1602--Condemnation and execution of the marshal.....pp. 30-37
CHAPTER IV
Bassompierre sets out for Hungary to serve as a volunteer in the
Imperial Army against the Turks--His journey to Vienna--He learns that
the commander-in-chief of the army is General von Rossworm, a mortal
enemy of the Bassompierre family--He is advised by his friends in Vienna
to take service in the Army of Transylvania, instead of in that of
Hungary, but declines to change his plans--He sups more well than wisely
at Gran--His arrival in the Imperialist camp before Buda--Position of
the hostile armies--Bassompierre is presented to Rossworm--He narrowly
escapes being killed or taken prisoner by the Turks--He takes part in a
fierce combat in the Isle of Adon, and has another narrow escape--He is
reconciled with Rossworm--Massacre of eight hundred Turkish
prisoners--Failure of a night-attack planned by the Imperialist
general--Gallant but foolhardy enterprise of the Hungarians--The Turks
bombard the Imperialist headquarters--Termination of the
campaign--Bassompierre returns with Rossworm to Vienna.....pp. 38-49
CHAPTER V
Bassompierre goes to Prague, where the Imperial Court is in
residence--He is presented by Rossworm to the lords of the Council--He
dines at the house of Prestowitz, Burgrave of Karlstein, and falls in
love with his widowed daughter, “Madame Esther”--Bassompierre and
Rossworm engage in an amorous adventure, from which they narrowly escape
with their lives--Bassompierre plays tennis with Wallenstein, with the
Emperor Maximilian an interested spectator--He is presented to the
Emperor, who receives him very graciously and commissions him to raise
troops in Lorraine for service against the Turks--Bassompierre, Rossworm
and other nobles parade the streets masked and have an affray with the
police--Singular sequel to this affair--Bassompierre spends the Carnival
with the Prestowitz family at Karlstein--Amorous escapade with “Madame
Esther”--Bassompierre sets out for Lorraine--He engages in a
drinking-bout with the canons of Saverne which very nearly has a fatal
termination--Death of his brother Jean, Seigneur de Removille, at the
siege of Ostend--Grievances of Bassompierre against the French
Government--Henri IV promises that “justice shall be done him” and
invites him to return to his Court--Bassompierre renounces his intention
of entering the Imperial service and sets out for France.....pp. 50-63
CHAPTER VI
Bassompierre arrives at Fontainebleau and is most graciously received by
Henri IV--He falls in love with Marie d’Entragues, sister of the King’s
mistress--The conspiracy of the d’Entragues--The Sieur d’Entragues and
the Comte d’Auvergne are arrested and conveyed to the Bastille, and
Madame de Verneuil kept a prisoner in her own house--Jacqueline de Bueil
temporarily replaces Madame de Verneuil in the royal affections--The
King, unable to do without the latter, sets her and her father at
liberty--Bassompierre becomes the lover of Marie d’Entragues--He is
dangerously wounded by the Duc de Guise in a tournament, and his life is
at first despaired of--He recovers--Attentions which he receives during
his illness from the ladies of the Court.....pp. 64-70
CHAPTER VII
Quarrel between Bassompierre and the Marquis de Cœuvres--Bassompierre
sends his cousin the Sieur de Créquy to challenge the marquis to a
duel--The King sends for the two nobles and orders them to be reconciled
in his presence--Bassompierre and Créquy are forbidden to appear at
Court, but are soon pardoned--Visit of Bassompierre to Plombières--He
returns to Paris, and “breaks entirely” with Marie d’Entragues--The
Chancellor, Pomponne de Bellièvre, ordered to resign the Seals--His
conversation with Bassompierre at Artenay--Bassompierre wins more than
100,000 francs at play--He is reconciled with Marie d’Entragues--He
joins Henri IV at Sedan--The adventure of the King’s love-letter--Henri
IV gives orders that a watch shall be kept on Marie d’Entragues’s house
to ascertain if Bassompierre is secretly visiting that lady--A comedy of
errors--Madame d’Entragues surprises her daughter and
Bassompierre.....pp. 71-86
CHAPTER VIII
A strange adventure--Bassompierre sent as Ambassador Extraordinary to
Lorraine to represent Henri IV at the marriage of the Duke of Bar and
Margherita di Gonzaga--He returns to Paris and orders a gorgeous suit,
which is to cost fourteen thousand crowns, for the baptism of the
Dauphin and Madame Élisabeth, though he has only seven hundred in his
purse--He wins enough at play to pay for it--Charles III of Lorraine
writes to request his presence at the Estates of Lorraine--Henri IV
refuses him permission to leave France, but he sets out notwithstanding
this--He is arrested by the King’s orders at Meaux, but set at liberty
on his promising to return to Court--He is allowed to leave for Lorraine
a few days later--Affair of the Prince de Joinville and Madame de
Moret.....pp. 87-94
CHAPTER IX
Amusements of Bassompierre during the winter of 1608--His
gambling-parties--Embarrassment which the fact of having several
love-affairs on his hands simultaneously sometimes occasions him--Death
of Charles III of Lorraine--Bassompierre goes to Nancy to attend the
Duke’s funeral--Gratifying testimony which he receives during his
absence of the esteem in which he is held by the ladies of the Court of
France--“The star of Venus is very much in the ascendant over
him”--Marriage arranged between Marie d’Entragues and the Comte d’Aché,
of Auvergne--The affair is broken off--Frenzied gambling at the Court:
gains of Bassompierre--Secret visits paid by him and the Duc de Guise to
Madame de Verneuil and Marie d’Entragues at Conflans--Visit of the Duke
of Mantua to the Court of France.....pp. 95-99
CHAPTER X
Enviable position of Bassompierre at the Court of France--The Connétable
de Montmorency offers him the hand of his beautiful daughter Charlotte,
the greatest heiress in France--The marriage-articles are drawn up--The
consent of Henri IV is obtained--The Duc de Bouillon, whom Bassompierre
has offended, endeavours to persuade the King to withdraw his sanction
and to marry Mlle. de Montmorency to the Prince de Condé (_Monsieur le
Prince_)--Henri IV falls madly in love with the young lady--Singular
conversation between the King and Bassompierre, in which his Majesty
orders the latter to renounce his pretensions to Mlle. de Montmorency’s
hand--Astonishment and mortification of Bassompierre, who, however,
yields with a good grace--Bassompierre falls ill of chagrin and remains
for two days “without sleeping, eating or drinking”--He is persuaded by
his friend Praslin to return to the Louvre--Mlle. de Montmorency is
betrothed to the Prince de Condé--Bassompierre falls ill of tertian
fever, but rises from his sick-bed to fight a duel with a Gascon
gentleman--The combatants are separated by friends of the
latter--Serious illness of Bassompierre.....pp. 100-118
CHAPTER XI
The body of a man who has been assassinated opposite Marie d’Entragues’s
house mistaken for that of Bassompierre--Bassompierre wins a wager of a
thousand crowns from the King--Marriage of the Prince de Condé and Mlle.
de Montmorency--Henri IV informs Bassompierre of his intention to send
him on a secret mission to Henri II, Duke of Lorraine, to propose an
alliance between that prince’s elder daughter and the Dauphin--Departure
of Bassompierre--He arrives at Nancy and challenges a gentleman to a
duel, but the affair is arranged--His first audience of Duke Henri
II--Irresolution of that prince, who desires to postpone his answer
until he has consulted his advisers--Negotiations of Bassompierre with
the Margrave of Baden-Durlach--He returns to Nancy--Continued hesitation
of the Duke of Lorraine--Memoir of Bassompierre: his prediction of the
advantages which Lorraine would derive from being incorporated with
France abundantly justified by time--The Duke gives a qualified
acceptance of Henri IV’s propositions--Difficulty which Bassompierre
experiences in inducing him to commit his reply to writing.....pp. 119-131
CHAPTER XII
Return of Bassompierre to the French Court--Frenzied passion of Henri IV
for the young Princesse de Condé--His extravagant conduct--Condé flies
with his wife to Flanders--Grief and indignation of the King, who
summons his most trusted counsellors to deliberate upon the affair--Sage
advice of Sully, which, however, is not followed--The Archduke Albert
refuses to surrender the fugitives--Condé retires to Milan and places
himself under the protection of Spain--Failure of an attempt to abduct
the princess--Henri IV and his Ministers threaten war if the lady is not
given up--The “Great Design”--Bassompierre appointed Colonel of the
Light Cavalry and a Counsellor of State--His account of the last days
and assassination of Henri IV.....pp. 132-145
CHAPTER XIII
Incidents at the Court and in Paris after the assassination of Henri
IV--Meeting between Bassompierre and Sully--Marie de’ Medici declared
Regent--Her difficult position--Return of Condé--Greed and arrogance of
the grandees--Quarrel between the Comte de Soissons and the Duc de
Guise--Grievance of _Monsieur le Comte_ against Bassompierre--He
persuades Madame d’Entragues to endeavour to compel Bassompierre to
marry her daughter Marie--Proceedings instituted against that
gentleman--Announcement of the “Spanish marriages”--Magnificent fêtes in
the Place-Royale--Intrigues at the Court--The Princes and Concini in
power--Assassination of the Baron de Luz by the Chevalier de
Guise--Marie de’ Medici and the Princes--Conversation of the Regent with
Bassompierre--Bassompierre reconciles the Guises with the
Queen-Mother--The Chevalier de Guise kills the son of the Baron de Luz
in a duel--The Princes, on the advice of Concini, retire from
Court.....pp. 146-164
CHAPTER XIV
The affair of Montferrato--Intrigues of Concini with Charles Emmanuel of
Savoy--Arrest of Concini’s agent Maignan--Bassompierre warns the Italian
favourite of his danger and advises him to throw himself on the clemency
of the Queen-Mother--Concini follows his advice and is pardoned and
shielded by Marie de’ Medici, while his agent is executed--Bassompierre
goes to Rouen, where the d’Entragues’s action against him is to be
heard--The Regent recommends his cause to the judges--The d’Entragues
object to the constitution of the court, and the case is
adjourned--Duplicity of Concini--He intrigues to ruin Bassompierre with
the Queen-Mother--Semi-disgrace of Bassompierre--He is reconciled with
Marie de’ Medici--He is appointed Colonel-General of the Swiss--The
Princes surprise Mézières--Peace of Saint-Menehould--Bassompierre
accompanies Louis XIII and the Queen-Mother to the West.....pp. 165-176
CHAPTER XV
Bassompierre, during his absence in Lorraine, condemned by the
Archbishop of Aix to espouse Mlle. d’Entragues, on pain of
excommunication--The archbishop’s decision quashed by the Parlement of
Paris--Financial and amatory embarrassments of Bassompierre--Death of
his mother--The action which the d’Entragues have brought against him
finally decided in his favour--Condé withdraws from Court and issues a
manifesto against the Government--Civil war begins--Marriage of Louis
XIII and Anne of Austria--Peace of Loudun--Fall of the old Ministers of
Henri IV--Concini and the shoemaker--Condé becomes all-powerful--He
obliges Concini to retire to Normandy--Arrogance of Condé and his
partisans, who are suspected of conspiracy to change the form of
government--The Queen-Mother sends for Bassompierre at three o’clock in
the morning and informs him that she has decided upon the arrest of the
Princes--Preparations for this _coup d’état_--Arrest of Condé--Concini’s
house sacked by the mob--The Comte d’Auvergne and the Council of
War--Bassompierre conducts Condé from the Louvre to the Bastille.....pp.
177-195
CHAPTER XVI
Serious illness of the young King, who, however, recovers--Bassompierre
and Mlle. d’Urfé--Gay winter in Paris--Richelieu enters the Ministry as
Secretary of State for War--His foreign policy--His energetic measures
to put down the rebellion of the Princes--Return of Concini--His
arrogance and presumption--Singular conversation between Bassompierre
and Concini after the death of the latter’s daughter--Policy pursued by
Marie de’ Medici and Concini towards Louis XIII--Humiliating position of
the young King--His favourite, Charles d’Albert, Seigneur de
Luynes--Bassompierre warns the Queen-Mother that the King may be
persuaded to revolt against her authority.....pp. 196-207
CHAPTER XVII
Bassompierre joins the Royal army in Champagne as Grand Master of the
Artillery by commission--Surrender of Château-Porcien--Bassompierre is
wounded before Rethel--He sets out for Paris in order to negotiate the
sale of his office of Colonel-General of the Swiss to Concini--He visits
the Royal army which is besieging Soissons--A foolhardy act--Singular
conduct of the garrison--The Président Chevret arrives in the Royal camp
with the news that Concini has been assassinated--Details of this
affair--Bassompierre continues his journey to Paris--His adventure with
the Liègeois cavalry of Concini.....pp. 208-218
CHAPTER XVIII
Bassompierre arrives in Paris--Marie de’ Medici is exiled to
Blois--Bassompierre’s account of the parting between Louis XIII and his
mother--The rebellious princes return to Court and are pardoned, but
Condé remains in the Bastille--His wife solicits and receives permission
to join him there--Arrest of the Governor and Lieutenant of the
Bastille, on a charge of conniving at a secret correspondence between
Barbin and the Queen-Mother--Bassompierre is placed temporarily in
charge of the fortress--The Prince and Princesse de Condé are
transferred to the Château of Vincennes--Bassompierre goes to Rouen to
attend the assembly of the Notables--A rapid journey.....pp. 219-224
CHAPTER XIX
Luynes succeeds to the power and wealth of Concini--Trial and execution
of Concini’s widow, Leonora Galigaï--Luynes begins to direct affairs of
State--His marriage to Marie de Rohan--Conduct of the Duc d’Épernon--His
quarrel with Du Vair, the Keeper of the Seals--His disgrace--He begins
to intrigue with the Queen-Mother--Escape of the latter from
Blois--Treaty of Angoulême--The Court at Tours--Arnauld d’Andilly’s
account of Bassompierre’s lavish hospitality--Favours bestowed by the
King on Bassompierre--Meeting between Louis XIII and the
Queen-Mother--Liberation of Condé--Bassompierre entertains the King at
Monceaux--He is admitted to the Ordre du Saint-Esprit.....pp. 225-234
CHAPTER XX
The grandees, irritated by the increasing power and favour of Luynes,
decide to make common cause with the Queen-Mother against him--Departure
of Mayenne from the Court--He is followed by Longueville, Nemours,
Mayenne and Retz--Formidable character of the insurrection--Bassompierre
receives orders to mobilise a Royal army in Champagne--He informs the
King that the Comte de Soissons, his mother, the Grand Prieur de Vendôme
and the Comte de Saint-Aignan intend to leave Paris to join the
rebels--Alarm and indecision of Luynes--Advice of Bassompierre--It is
finally decided to allow them to go--Success of Bassompierre in
mobilising troops in Champagne, despite great difficulties--The Duc de
Bouillon sends a gentleman to him to endeavour to corrupt his
loyalty--Reply of Bassompierre--The town and château of Dreux surrender
to him--He joins the King near La Flèche with an army of 8,600
men--Combat of the Ponts-des-Cé--Peace of Angers.....pp. 235-254
CHAPTER XXI
Refusal of the Protestants of Béarn to restore the property of the
Catholic Church--Louis XIII and Luynes resolve on rigorous measures and
set out for the South--Visit of Bassompierre to La Rochelle--He joins
the King at Bordeaux--Arrest and execution of d’Arsilemont--The
Parlement of Pau declines to register the Royal edict, and Louis XIII
determines to march into Béarn--Bassompierre charged with the transport
of the army across the Garonne, which is accomplished in twenty-four
hours--Béarn and Lower Navarre are united to the Crown of
France--Coldness of the King towards Bassompierre--Bassompierre learns
that this is due to the ill offices of Luynes, who regards him as a
rival in the royal favour--He is informed that Luynes is “unable to
suffer him to remain at Court”--Bassompierre decides to come to terms
with the favourite, and it is arranged that he shall quit the Court so
soon as some honourable office can be found for him--The Valtellina
question--Bassompierre appointed Ambassador Extraordinary to the Court
of Spain--Birth of a son to Luynes.....pp. 255-270
CHAPTER XXII
An alliance with Luynes’s niece, Mlle. de Combalet, proposed to
Bassompierre--His journey to Spain--His entry into Madrid--He is visited
by the Princess of the Asturias, the grandees and other distinguished
persons--His meeting with the Duke of Ossuña--His audience of Philip III
postponed owing to the King’s illness--Commissioners are appointed to
treat with Bassompierre over the Valtellina question--Death of Philip
III--His funeral procession--An indiscreet observation of the Duke of
Ossuña to one of Bassompierre’s suite is overheard and leads to the
arrest of that nobleman.....pp. 271-285
CHAPTER XXIII
Bassompierre’s audience of the new King, Philip IV--The Procession of
the Crosses--An old flame--Good Friday at Madrid--Anxiety of the Queen’s
ladies-in-waiting to see Bassompierre--His visit to them--He is
commissioned by Louis XIII to present his condolences to Philip IV--He
is informed that etiquette requires him to leave Madrid as though to
return to France and then to make another formal entry--Revolution of
the palace at Madrid: fall of the late King’s Ministers--The Count of
Saldagna ordered by Philip IV to marry Doña Mariana de Cordoba on pain
of his severe displeasure--Bassompierre offers to facilitate the escape
of Saldagna to France, but the latter’s courage fails him at the last
moment--Negotiations over the Valtellina--Treaty of
Madrid--Bassompierre’s pretended departure for France--He visits the
Escurial, returns to Madrid and makes a second ceremonious entry--The
audience of condolence--State entry of Philip IV into
Madrid--Termination of Bassompierre’s embassy--He returns to
France.....pp. 286-298
CHAPTER XXIV
A new War of Religion breaks out in France--Luynes created
Constable--Louis XIII and Duplessis-Mornay--Bassompierre joins the Royal
army before Saint-Jean d’Angély--Capitulation of the town--Bassompierre
returns with Créquy to Paris--He is “in great consideration” amongst the
ladies--Apparent anxiety of Luynes for the marriage of his niece to
Bassompierre--The King and the Constable resolve to lay siege to
Montauban--Bassompierre decides to rejoin the army without waiting for
orders from the latter--He arrives at the King’s quarters at the Château
of Picqueos--Dispositions of the besieging army--Narrow escape of
Bassompierre while reconnoitring the advanced-works of the town--A
gallant Swiss--Death of the Comte de Fiesque--Heavy casualties amongst
the besiegers--The Seigneur de Tréville--Bassompierre and the women of
Montauban--Death of Mayenne--The Spanish monk--An amateur
general--Disastrous results of carrying out his orders--Furious sortie
of the garrison--Bassompierre is wounded in the face--An amusing
incident--The Cévennes mountaineers endeavour to throw reinforcements
into Montauban--A midnight _mêlée_.....pp. 299-319
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
VOL. I
FRANÇOIS, SEIGNEUR DE BASSOMPIERRE, MARQUIS
D’HAROUEL, MARÉCHAL DE FRANCE _Frontispiece_
From an engraving by Lasne.
FACING PAGE
GABRIELLE D’ESTRÉES, DUCHESSE DE BEAUFORT 24
HENRIETTE DE BALSAC D’ENTRAGUES, MARQUISE
DE VERNEUIL 78
From an engraving by Aubert.
CHARLOTTE MARGUERITE DE MONTMORENCY,
PRINCESSE DE CONDÉ 104
From an engraving by Barbant.
HENRI IV, KING OF FRANCE 136
CONCINO CONCINI, MARÉCHAL D’ANCRE 184
From an engraving by Aubert.
CHARLES D’ALBERT, DUC DE LUYNES, CONSTABLE
OF FRANCE 238
From a contemporary print.
PHILIP IV, KING OF SPAIN 290
From the painting by Velasquez.
A Gallant of Lorraine
CHAPTER I
Birth of François de Bassompierre--Origin of the Bassompierre
family--A romantic legend--His grandfather--His father--His early
years--He and his younger brother Jean are sent to the University
of Pont-à-Mousson, and afterwards to that of Ingoldstadt--Their
studies at Ingoldstadt--Death of their father, Christophe de
Bassompierre--Journey of the two brothers through Italy--Their
return to Lorraine.
François de Bassompierre was born at the Château of Harouel, in
Lorraine, on Palm Sunday, April 12, 1579, “at four o’clock in the
morning.” His family, which was one of the most ancient and illustrious
of Lorraine, appears to have owed its name to the village of Betstein,
or Bassompierre,[1] near Sancy, which formed part of its possessions
until 1793, when it was confiscated and sold by the Government of
Revolutionary France, with the rest of the Bassompierre property. If we
are to believe the very confusing documents which François de
Bassompierre collected about his family, it descended from the German
House of Ravensberg, but, according to the learned genealogist, Père
Anselme, its origin can be traced to the latter part of the thirteenth
century, to one Olry de Dompierre, who became possessed of the fief of
Bassompierre by marriage, and whose son, Simon, adopted the name, which
became that of his descendants.
However that may be, it was undoubtedly a very old family indeed, as
well as a distinguished one, and, like most old families, had its
mysterious traditions; but, at any rate, the legend of the Bassompierres
had nothing sinister about it.
The story goes that during the transitory reign of that Adolph of Nassau
who lost his Imperial crown and his life at the Battle of Spire, there
lived a certain Comte d’Angerveiller, or d’Orgeveiller. This nobleman,
as he was returning home one evening from hunting--it was a
Monday--stopped to rest at a summer-house situated in a wood a little
distance from his château. There, to his astonishment, he found a young
and beautiful woman--a fairy, it is said--(She must surely have been the
last of the race!)--apparently awaiting his arrival. And the pair were
so well pleased with one another at this first interview, that for two
whole years they failed not to meet every Monday at the same rendezvous,
“the count pretending to his wife that he had gone to shoot in the
wood.”
However, as time went on, the countess began to conceive suspicions,
“and one morning entered the summer-house, where she found her husband
with a woman of perfect beauty, and both asleep. And being unwilling to
awaken them, she merely spread over their feet a kerchief which she was
wearing on her head, which, being perceived by the fairy, she uttered a
piercing cry and began to lament, saying that she must see her lover no
more, nor even be within a hundred leagues of him; and so left him,
having first bestowed upon him these three gifts--a spoon, a goblet and
a ring, for his three daughters, which, said she, they must carefully
preserve, as, if they did this, they would bring good fortune to their
families and descendants.”
Well, a lord of Bassompierre, an ancestor of the marshal, married one of
the three daughters of the Comte Orgeveiller, who brought him as her
dowry, together with certain fat lands, the spoon; and, in memory of
this tradition, the town of Épinal, of which he had been burgrave, was
obliged to offer to him and his descendants, on a certain day each year,
by way of quit-rent, a spoonful from every measure of corn sold within
its walls.
The ancestors of Bassompierre had served in turn the Emperors and great
princes of Germany, the Dukes of Burgundy, the Kings of France and the
Dukes of Lorraine, and had ended by occupying the highest offices at the
Court of Nancy. To go no further back than two generations, we find the
marshal’s grandfather, François de Bassompierre, high in the favour of
the Emperor Charles V, to whom he was successively page of honour,
gentleman of the Chamber, and Captain of the German Guard. In 1556 he
accompanied his Imperial master to the gates of the Monastery of Yuste,
where he witnessed Charles’s last adieu to the world, and received from
his hand a valuable diamond ring, which was ever afterwards religiously
preserved in the Bassompierre family.
In 1552 Henri II, King of France, invaded Lorraine and established a
protectorate over the duchy; and François de Bassompierre, who, some
years before, had been sent by Charles V as Ambassador Extraordinary to
Nancy to assist in the government of Lorraine, during the minority of
its youthful sovereign, Charles III, was required to send his youngest
son, Christophe, to the French Court, as a hostage for his good
behaviour. The little boy--then about five years old--was brought up
with the Duc d’Orléans, afterwards Charles IX, who “either on account of
the conformity in their ages or some other reason, conceived a great
affection for him,” and admitted him to the closest intimacy. In
consequence, when the Peace of Cateau-Cambrésis left Christophe at
liberty to return to Lorraine, he preferred to remain in France, until,
in 1564, when barely seventeen, he set off for Hungary to serve under
one of his uncles, Colonel de Harouel, against the Turks. Here he made
the acquaintance of Henri de Lorraine, Duc de Guise, who had also gone
crusading on the Danube, and a warm friendship sprang up between the two
lads, which lasted until Guise’s tragic death in 1589. “My father,”
writes Bassompierre, “always preserved for him (Guise) his devotion and
his service, and the said Sieur de Guise esteemed him above all his
other servants and intimates, calling him ‘_l’amy du cœur_.’”[2]
Returning to France, after two years’ service in Hungary, Christophe de
Bassompierre was entrusted by Charles IX with the command of 1,500
_reiters_, at the head of whom he distinguished himself at the Battles
of Jarnac and Montcontour, in both of which he was wounded. In 1568 he
was sent by the King with a body of _reiters_ to the Netherlands, to the
assistance of Alva, and took part in the Battle of Gemmingen, in which
Alva defeated the Duke of Nassau. On his return to the French Court
after the Peace of Saint-Germain, Charles IX proposed to reward his
military services by marrying him to one of the two daughters of the
late Maréchal de Brissac. Christophe, however, who was poor and a cadet
of his House, represented to his Majesty that these damsels, who had
little money and great pretensions, were ill suited to him who had none,
and who needed it; “but that if he would do him the favour of marrying
him to the niece of the said marshal Louise le Picart de Radeval,[3] who
was an heiress, and whose aunt, Madame de Moreuil, intended to give her
100,000 crowns, it would do him much more good and make his fortune. And
this the King did, in spite of her relations and in spite of the girl
herself, who did not like him, because he was poor, a foreigner and a
German.”
Of this union, so inauspiciously begun, five children were born--three
sons, of whom François was the eldest, and two daughters.[4]
Almost immediately after his marriage, Christophe was obliged to leave
his bride, to take part in the siege of La Rochelle, which was
interrupted by the news that the Duc d’Anjou (afterwards Henri III), who
commanded the Catholic army, had been elected to the throne of Poland.
Christophe was one of those chosen to accompany the prince to his
kingdom, and set out for Poland, “with a great and noble retinue”; but,
on reaching Vienna, he received orders from Charles IX to raise a levy
of _reiters_ for service against the Huguenots and “_Politiques_” and
return to France with all speed. He performed a like service for Henri
III in 1575, at the time of the revolt of Alençon, but in 1585 resigned
his pensions and offices and threw in his lot with the Duc de Guise and
the League, to whom his skill in recruiting mercenaries from Germany and
Switzerland proved of great assistance.
After the King’s surrender to the demands of the League, at the Peace of
Nemours, in July of that year, Christophe’s pensions and offices were
restored to him, and in 1587, when the great army of _reiters_ under
Dohna and Bouillon invaded France, we find him commissioned by Henri III
to raise a new levy of 1,500 horse. These troops were stationed with the
main army, commanded by Henri III in person on the Loire, but Christophe
himself preferred to serve under Guise on the Lorraine frontier. Here he
was seized with a serious illness, which necessitated his return home
and prevented him taking part in Guise’s victories at Vimory and Auneau.
Christophe was at Blois at the time of the assassination of Guise in
December, 1588, but, warned in time, he succeeded in effecting his
escape from the town before the principal adherents of the duke were
arrested, and, exasperated by the fate of his friend and patron, raised
large levies in Germany for the service of the Leaguer princes. He
fought under Mayenne against Henri IV at Arques and Ivry, in which
latter engagement he was twice wounded and obliged to return to
Lorraine. He returned to France in 1593, to assist, as representative of
Duke Charles III, at the Estates of the League, where he offered very
effective opposition to the proposal of the ultra-Catholic party to
confer the crown of France on the Infanta Clara Eugenia. The conversion
of Henri IV having caused him to abandon any projects which he might
have had in France, he now devoted himself to re-establishing the
affairs of the Duke of Lorraine, which were in sad disorder, and was
appointed by that prince Grand Master of his Household and
Superintendent of Finance. In July, 1534, he signed, on behalf of the
duke, in Henri IV’s camp before Laon, a treaty by which Charles III
undertook to observe complete neutrality between France and Spain.
This gallant old warrior was an excellent father and spared no expense
to give his sons the most thorough education which it was possible for
them to obtain. François de Bassompierre’s early years were passed at
the Château of Harouel.
“I was brought up in this house,” he writes, “until October, 1584,
when I first remember seeing Henri, Duc de Guise, who was concealed
at Harouel, for the purpose of treating with several colonels of
_landsknechts_ and _reiters_ for the levies of the League. At this
time I began to learn to read and write, and afterwards the
rudiments. My tutor was a Norman priest, named Nicolas Ciret.”
In the autumn of 1587, on the approach of the invading army of Dohna and
Bouillon, Madame de Bassompierre and her children had to leave Harouel
and take refuge at Nancy. The invaders burned the town of Harouel, but
appear to have left the château untouched.
On the return of the family to Harouel, François and his younger brother
Jean, who now shared his studies, were given another tutor, named
Gravet, “and two young men, called Clinchamp and La Motte, the one to
teach us to write, the other to dance, play the lute and music.” They
passed the next four years partly at Harouel and partly at Nancy, where,
in the autumn of 1591, François saw for the first time Charles de
Lorraine, Duc de Guise, who had recently effected his romantic escape
from the Château of Blois,[5] and with whom he was to be on such
intimate terms in later years.
In October, 1591, the two boys went, accompanied by their masters, to
study at Freiburg, but only remained there five months, “because Gravet,
our tutor, killed La Motte, who taught us to dance.” In consequence of
this unfortunate affair, they returned to Harouel, but towards the end
of 1592 were sent to continue their studies at the University of
Pont-à-Mousson, founded by Duke Charles III and his uncle the Cardinal
de Lorraine, and early in the following year reached the first class.
They passed the Carnival of 1593 at Nancy, where they took part in a
tournament, “dressed _à la Suisse_.” At its conclusion they returned to
Pont-à-Mousson, where, shortly afterwards, their father brought them a
German tutor, George von Springesfeld, in place of the homicidal Gravet.
At the Carnival of 1594 they again went to Nancy, to assist at the
marriage of William II, Duke of Bavaria, and Marie Élisabeth, younger
daughter of the Duke of Lorraine, when it was decided that they should
accompany the bridal pair back to Bavaria, and keep their terms at the
University of Ingoldstadt. They travelled in the duke’s suite by way of
Heidelberg, Spire, Neustadt, Donauworth and Landshut, the party being
splendidly entertained by the various nobles at whose houses they
stopped; but the journey did not end without a tragic incident, in which
François de Bassompierre had a narrow escape of his life.
At Donauworth, where they were delayed for two or three days by the
swollen condition of the Danube, he went out in a boat with the duke and
some of his attendants, to reconnoitre the passage of the river. As they
were nearing the castle in which the duchess was lodged, William II
ordered one of his pages to load and fire a pistol, in order to announce
their approach to his consort. The pistol missed fire, and, while the
page was examining the priming, it suddenly went off and killed an old
nobleman of the prince’s suite, who was sitting close to Bassompierre.
At Ingoldstadt the two brothers, and the elder in particular, would
certainly not appear to have wasted much time:--
“We went on with rhetoric for a little while, and then proceeded to
logic, which we studied in an abridged form, and in three months
passed on to physics and occasionally studied the sphere. In the
month of August we went to Munich, whither the duke had invited us
to spend the stag-hunting season, which they call _Hirschfeiste_,
with him. At the end of the hunting-season, which lasted a month,
we returned to Ingoldstadt, and continued our studies until
October, when we quitted physics, having got to the books _De
Animâ_. And, as we had still seven months to remain, I set myself
to study the institutes of law, in which I employed an hour;
another hour I spent in cases of conscience; an hour in the
aphorisms of Hippocrates; and an hour in the ethics and politics of
Aristotle, upon which studies I was so intent that my tutor was
obliged, from time to time, to draw me away from them, in order to
divert my mind. I continued my studies during the rest of that year
and the early part of 1596.”
But what contributed a good deal more than this bizarre erudition to
give to the future marshal that perfect aplomb, those graceful
accomplishments and charming manners to which he owed his fortune, was
the journey through Italy which he and his brother undertook after they
had completed their course at Ingoldstadt and returned to Harouel, which
was then a house of mourning, as their father, Christophe de
Bassompierre, had died just before they left Bavaria.
In the autumn of 1596 they set out for the South, accompanied by the
Sieur de Malleville, an old gentleman, who acted as their _gouverneur_,
Springesfeld, their German tutor, and one of their late father’s
gentlemen, and travelled by way of Strasbourg, Ulm, Augsburg, Munich,
Innsbrück and Trent to Verona, where they were the guests of the Counts
Ciro and Alberto Canossa, the latter of whom had once been page to
William II of Bavaria. From Verona they proceeded to Mantua and Bologna,
and then, crossing the Apennines, arrived at Florence.
Here they received a gracious message from Ferdinand I, Grand Duke of
Tuscany, who had married Christine of Lorraine, daughter of Charles III,
inviting them to visit him at his country-seat at Lambrogiano, to which
one of the prince’s carriages would be sent to convey them. On the day
following their arrival at Lambrogiano, the Grand Duchess invited the
elder brother to walk with her in the gardens, where they met her niece
Marie de’ Medici, to whom she presented him. Bassompierre little
imagined as he made his reverence that the young princess whom he was
saluting was the future Queen of France. In the evening they left
Lambrogiano and returned to Florence, where they remained for a few days
and then set out for Rome, by way of Sienna and Viterbo.
At Rome they stayed a week, in order to perform the various devotions
customary for good Catholics who visited the Eternal City, and waited
upon several of the cardinals to whom they had letters of introduction,
and also upon the Spanish Ambassador, the Duke of Sessa, who had been a
friend of their father, and whose acquaintance they had made some years
before when he passed through Lorraine on his way to France. The
Ambassador provided them with passports and with letters of
recommendation to the Viceroy of Naples, and they set out for that city,
stopping on the road at Gaëta, Capua, and Aversa.
On their arrival at Naples, they lost no time in presenting the letters
which the Duke of Sessa had given them to the Viceroy, Don Henriques de
Guzman, Count of Olivares, “who, on opening them, inquired if we were
the sons of that M. de Bassompierre, colonel of _reiters_, who had come
to the succour of the Duke of Alva in Flanders, by orders of the late
King Charles. And when we told him that we were, he embraced us most
affectionately, assuring us that he had loved our father as his own
brother, and that he was the most noble and generous cavalier whom he
had ever known; adding that he would treat us, not only as persons of
quality, but as his own children, which, indeed, he did, giving us all
the proofs of affection and good-will possible to imagine.”
At Naples, the brothers passed a considerable part of their time in
practising equitation, under the guidance of two celebrated Italian
riding-masters; but at the beginning of 1597 their course of instruction
was interrupted by an attack of small-pox. On their recovery, they
returned to Rome, where they remained until after Easter, the only
incident of importance which marked their second visit to the Papal city
being their rescue of a French gentleman named Saint-Offange, who had
killed another in a duel, from the pursuit of the law.
From Rome they went to Florence, where they resumed the riding-lessons
which the small-pox had interrupted at Naples.
“As for our other exercises,” writes Bassompierre, “we had Messire
Agostino for dancing, Messire Marquino for fencing, Guilio Parigi
for fortification, in which Bernardo della Girandolla also
sometimes assisted. We continued these lessons all the summer, and
also witnessed the festivities of Florence, such as the _calcio_
and the _palio_, the plays and some marriages within and without
the palace.”
While at Florence, they paid short visits to Pisa, Lucca, and Leghorn,
and early in November left the Tuscan city and took the road to Bologna,
whence they travelled by way of Faenza, Forli, and Ancona to Loretto. At
Loretto, where they arrived on Christmas Eve, they were invited by
Cardinal Gallio to stay at the Palazzo Santa-Casa. They spent the night
in devotions in the chapel, and on Christmas Day the cardinal appointed
the elder Bassompierre one of the witnesses to the opening of the
alms-boxes, “which amounted to six thousand crowns for the last quarter
of the year.”
At Loretto our young travellers, inspired doubtless by their visit to
that famous shrine with the desire to do and dare something for the sake
of Holy Church, embarked in a strange adventure:--
“There were a great many other French gentlemen at Loretto, besides
ourselves, and we all took the resolution to go together into
Hungary to the wars before we returned home. Having mutually
promised this, on the day after Christmas we all set out in a body,
to wit: MM. de Bourlemont and d’Amolis, brothers; MM. de Foncaude
and de Chasneuil, brothers; the Baron de Crapados and my brother
and I. But, since the nature of Frenchmen is fickle, at the end of
three days’ journey some of us, who had not our purses sufficiently
well-lined for a long journey or who had a stronger desire to
return to our homes than the rest, began to say that it was useless
to go so far in search of fighting when we had it near at hand;
that we were in the midst of the Papal army, marching to the
conquest of Ferrara, which had devolved on the Pope by the death
of Duke Alphonso; that Don Cesare d’Este retained possession of it,
contrary to all right;[6] that this was not less just and holy a
war than that of Hungary, and that in a week we should be face to
face with the enemy; whereas, if we went to Hungary, the armies
would not take the field for four months.
“These persuasions prevailed on our minds, and we resolved that we
would all go next day to Forli, to offer our services to Cardinal
Aldobrandini,[7] legate of the army, and that I should speak in the
name of us all, which I did, to the best of my ability. But the
legate received us so coolly, and gave us so poor a welcome, that
in the evening, at our lodging, we did not know how sufficiently to
express the resentment and anger with which his indifference had
inspired us.
* * * * *
“Then my brother began to say that in truth we had only got what we
deserved; that, not being subjects of the Pope, nor in any way
concerned in this war, we had gone inconsiderately to attack a
prince of the House of Este, to which France had so many
obligations, which had ever been so courteous to foreigners and
particularly to Frenchmen, and which was so nearly allied, not only
to the Kings of France, from whom that family was descended in the
female line, but also to the families of Nemours and Guise; and
that, if we were good for anything, we should go and offer our
services to this poor prince whom the Pope wanted unjustly to
despoil of a State possessed by so long a line of his ancestors.
“So soon as he had said these words, all the company expressed, not
only their appreciation, but also their firm resolve to proceed on
the morrow straight to Ferrara, to throw themselves into the town.
I have related all this, first, to make known the volatile and
inconstant character of Frenchmen, and, secondly, to show that
Fortune is generally mistress and director of our actions, since
we, who had intended to bear arms against the Turks, did, in point
of fact, take them up against the Pope.”
Travelling by way of Bologna, where their company was reinforced by the
Comte de Sommerive, younger son of the famous Duc de Mayenne, of the
League, the Chevalier de Verdelli, a friend of the Bassompierres, and
several other adventurous young gentlemen, they arrived on January 3 at
Ferrara. The duke received them with great honours and cordiality, but
he was very irresolute on the question of the war, alleging that his
coffers were well-nigh empty; that the King of Spain had declared for
the Pope, and that the Venetians, who had encouraged him to resist the
Pontiff, refused to assist him openly, and that the support that they
were prepared to give him secretly was of very little account. In this
state of mind he went, on the Feast of Kings, to hear Mass at a church
near the palace, accompanied by a great retinue of lords and gentlemen,
when the priests immediately quitted the altars, without finishing the
masses they had begun, and retreated from them as excommunicated
persons. This incident decided Don Cesare to send the Duchess of Urbino,
sister of the late Duke Alphonso, to treat with the Legate;[8] and,
accordingly, next day the band of young Frenchmen who had come to offer
him their services took leave of him and went their several ways.
The Bassompierres went to Rovigo and thence to Padua, when Johann
Tserclas, Count von Tilly, elder brother of the famous captain of the
Thirty Years’ War, who was then studying at the University of Padua,
invited them to dinner, and the following day accompanied them on a
visit to Venice, where they remained a week. On leaving Venice, they
returned to Padua, and, after a short stay there, set out for Genoa,
stopping on the way at Mantua. At Genoa they lodged at the house of the
German consul, and “my brother and I both fell in love with the consul’s
daughter, whose name was Philippina, to such a degree that for some days
we did not speak to one another.” Which of the two brothers Philippina
preferred, Bassompierre does not tell us.
Among the distinguished persons whose acquaintance they made at Genoa
were the two brothers Ambrosio and Frederico Spinola, the former of
whom, afterwards Duke of San Severino and Marquis of los Balbazes, was
to earn such renown as a general in the service of Spain. Frederico, who
also entered the Spanish service, was killed in a naval combat off
Ostend in May, 1603.
From Genoa our travellers proceeded to Tortona, and thence to Milan,
where they stayed for some days and were very hospitably entertained by
the Spanish governor at the citadel. They then set out on their homeward
journey, accompanied by the Chevalier de Verdelli and Don Alfonso
Casale, Spanish Ambassador to Switzerland. They travelled by way of the
St. Gotthard, stopping at Como, Lugano, Lucerne and Basle, and in the
early summer arrived safely at Harouel, after an absence of more than a
year and a half.