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.
Luynes had contrived to exasperate many other important personages
besides Marie de’ Medici. The irritation of the grandees against him was
increasing, in proportion as they beheld the King accumulating new
favours on the head of his parvenu favourite. Luynes and his two
brothers, Cadenet and Brantès, “devoured everything.” Between them they
had acquired eighteen of the most important governments in the kingdom,
and had all three blossomed into dukes, the eldest brother having been
created Duc de Luynes, the second Duc de Chaulnes, while the youngest
had married the heiress of the duchy of Piney-Luxembourg, and had
secured the revival of that title in his favour. Cadenet had also been
provided with the hand of a wealthy heiress of an illustrious house, and
had become, not only a duke and peer, but a marshal of France. As for
Luynes, he appeared to consider the bâton of marshal unworthy of his
grandeur, and awaited a favourable opportunity of girding on the sword
of Constable. Nor, while the three brothers were thus enriched and
aggrandized, were their poor relations forgotten; they arrived “by
battalions” from Provence and had their share of the spoils.
By family alliances Luynes had assured himself of the support of Condé,
Lesdiguières and of all the Guises, with the exception of the cardinal,
and he governed both the King and the State. The Ministers were only
consulted as a matter of form. The engagements to the Queen-Mother were
not kept; and, as the finances were in a state of indescribable
confusion, the pensions of the grandees, with the exception of those who
had the good fortune to be related by marriage to the favourite or his
brothers, remained unpaid.
Before the winter was over the patience of the grandees was exhausted,
and they decided to make common cause with the Queen-Mother against this
new Concini. “In the middle of Lent,” writes Bassompierre, “M. de
Mayenne quitted the Court without taking leave of the King.”[129]
Mayenne’s unceremonious departure sounded the first note of warning.
Others were not long in coming. At short intervals during the spring,
Vendôme, Longueville, Nemours and Retz followed the example of the
Lorraine prince, and when it became known that Vendôme, after going to
his country-seat in Normandy, had proceeded to join the Queen-Mother at
Angers, the Court could no longer doubt what was in the wind. The King
and Luynes, much alarmed, pressed Marie to return to Court; but she did
not wish to reappear there, “save with honour and safety,” and did not
consider the guarantees which were offered her sufficient. Richelieu
counselled her to take the risk, but the grandees who surrounded the
Queen-Mother opposed it, and civil war was decided upon.
In appearance, this insurrection was the most formidable that had been
seen since the accession of Louis XIII. The malcontents believed
themselves to be masters of France from Dieppe to Bayonne, and
possessed, besides, in the East of France, the important position of
Metz, of which d’Épernon was governor, which would permit them to
introduce into the kingdom foreign mercenaries. Luynes was at first
greatly perturbed; but Condé, eager to be avenged on the Queen-Mother,
reassured him, and urged him to take vigorous measures to meet the
danger. The plan of campaign they decided upon was well conceived. They,
with the King, would march into Normandy with what troops could be
spared from the defence of the capital, while Bassompierre, who had been
appointed _maréchal de camp_--a rank corresponding to
brigadier-general--of the troops in garrison in Champagne and on the
frontier of Lorraine, went there to mobilise as large a force as
possible. Then, when the safety of Normandy had been assured, they would
turn southwards; Bassompierre would join them at some point north of the
Loire, and their united forces would march on Angers.
On June 29 Bassompierre was entering the Louvre, to take leave of the
King, before setting out for Champagne, when a note in a woman’s
handwriting was slipped into his hand, informing him that the Comte de
Soissons[130] and his mother proposed to leave Paris that night to join
the Queen-Mother at Angers, and that the Grand Prieur de Vendôme, the
duke’s younger brother, and the Comte de Saint-Aignan were going with
them. Shortly afterwards, he happened to meet the Chevalier d’Épinay,
Commander of Malta, who was a friend of the Grand Prior, and questioned
him on the matter, when the chevalier said that he had been correctly
informed, and added that he himself was to be of the party.
Bassompierre found the King in his cabinet with Luynes, and informed
them of what was intended. They both appeared very much disturbed at his
news, and the King, who was going that afternoon to the Château of
Madrid, in the Bois de Boulogne, said that he should remain in Paris,
and announced his intention of sending for the Comte de Soissons and
having him arrested. Luynes and Bassompierre, however, pointed out that
“to arrest so great a personage without certain proofs did not seem to
them to be expedient, and that the affair merited to be weighed and
debated before any resolution was arrived at.” And Luynes advised the
King not to postpone his journey, “for fear of frightening the game,”
and said that he himself would remain in Paris and keep Bassompierre
there that day, and that, so soon as they had come to a decision, they
would acquaint his Majesty with it. He also asked that the Light Cavalry
of the Guard, which his youngest brother now commanded, should be placed
at his disposal, in order that he might effect the arrest of the prince
and his friends, if that course were deemed advisable.
Louis XIII accordingly set off for Madrid, and Bassompierre, Luynes, his
two brothers, and several of their friends met in solemn conclave at the
favourite’s hôtel in the Rue Saint-Thomas du Louvre to weigh and debate
this important matter. Luynes seemed in great perplexity, nor did his
relatives and friends appear able to help him to come to any definite
decision. At length, he turned to Bassompierre, who had hitherto
remained silent, and begged him to give them the benefit of his counsel.
Bassompierre modestly disclaimed any desire to express an opinion upon
affairs of State, particularly upon a matter so intricate and delicate
as the one under discussion. However, said he, as M. de Luynes had done
him the honour to seek his counsel, he would give it for what it was
worth.
He then said that, in this affair, he must speak like a
[Illustration: CHARLES D’ALBERT, DUC DE LUYNES, CONSTABLE OF FRANCE.
From a contemporary print.]
shopkeeper, and say that there were only two alternatives: to take him
or to leave him. If they decided to let _Monsieur le Comte_ depart in
peace, they might either say nothing to him at all, or inform him that
his design was known, but that it was a matter of indifference to the
King whether he executed it or not. If, on the contrary, they decided to
arrest him, there were several ways in which it might be effected: they
might advise the King to summon him to Madrid, warn him that he was
informed of his design, and that, in the circumstances, he felt obliged
“to assure himself of his person”; or they might send the Light Cavalry
to invest his hôtel and arrest him there; or as he was leaving his
house, or at the gates of the town; or, finally, at Villapreux (three
leagues from Versailles), the rendezvous where Saint-Aignan and d’Épinay
were to join him.
“It is now for you, Monsieur,” he concluded solemnly “to deliberate upon
and decide whether it be advisable to arrest him or let him go; and,
should you judge it necessary to arrest him, to make choice also of one
of the ways which I have proposed to you, and to execute it promptly and
surely.”
“Upon that,” observes Bassompierre, “M. de Luynes was in greater
uncertainty than ever”--we can well believe it--“and I was
astonished to see the little aid and comfort which he received from
the other gentlemen present, who showed themselves as irresolute as
he was.”
They continued their deliberations all the afternoon, and when evening
came they were as far off a decision as ever. Then Bassompierre, whose
patience was exhausted, said to Luynes: “Monsieur, you are wasting time
in resolving what course ought to be pursued. It grows late; the King
must be growing anxious at not hearing anything from you. Come to some
decision.”
“It is very easy for you to talk,” answered the favourite petulantly;
“but if you held the handle of the frying-pan, as I do, you would be in
a like difficulty.”
Bassompierre then suggested that perhaps, in the circumstances, it might
be as well to take the Ministers into his confidence. Now, as we have
mentioned already, M. de Luynes never condescended to consult these
unfortunate old gentlemen--“the dotards” as they were irreverently
called--except as a matter of form. Nevertheless, such was his
perplexity on this occasion, that he caught at the proposal as a
drowning man catches at a straw, and despatched a messenger in all haste
to summon the Ministers to assemble at the Chancellor’s house. Thither
the conference adjourned, and, after a good deal of further discussion,
it was resolved to let Soissons and his mother take their departure and
to say nothing to them about it. This decision was arrived at on the
advice of Jeannin, who pointed out that such vain and meddlesome persons
as these two were more likely to cause dissensions in the Queen-Mother’s
party than to strengthen it; that, when hostilities began, it would be
better to have them outside Paris than hatching mischief within its
walls; and, further, that it would be easy at any time to draw _Monsieur
le Comte_ away from his confederates by pecuniary inducements, in which
event he would very probably be followed by the other princes, since
these exalted personages were like a flock of sheep: when one took the
leap, the others followed him.
And so, at eleven o’clock that night, the Soissons and their friends
left Paris by the Porte Saint-Jacques, and went off to join the
Queen-Mother at Angers, no man hindering them; and on the following
morning Bassompierre set out for Champagne.
Bassompierre passed the first night of his journey at Château-Thierry,
where he received most alarming intelligence, to the effect that a
gentleman of the name of Loppes, who was in the service of the Duc de
Vendôme, was waiting with a troop of light horse between that town and
Châlons, with the intention of making him a prisoner and carrying him
off to Sedan. However, the rumour proved to be a false one, and he
arrived safely at Châlons without seeing anything of M. de Loppes or his
troop. Nevertheless, having ascertained that that gentleman was at his
country-house some few miles from Châlons, he considered it advisable to
pay him a visit, lest haply he should only have postponed the sinister
designs attributed to him to some more convenient season.
A promise, in the King’s name, of the command of the troop in which he
was now only a lieutenant sufficed to draw the most fervid expressions
of loyalty from M. de Loppes; and he volunteered to escort Bassompierre
with thirty of his men to Vitry, where two companies of the regiment of
Champagne were in garrison.
On the following morning, Bassompierre reviewed the garrison, which he
found pretty well up to strength, and sounded the officers, who appeared
loyal enough, though the lieutenant-colonel was under suspicion.
However, as he was away on furlough, and not likely to return for some
time, there was nothing to be feared from him.
From Vitry Bassompierre proceeded to Verdun, where he arrived on July 6.
Here there was a different tale to tell.
There were two regiments in garrison at Verdun: that of Picardy and that
of the Comte de Vaubecourt.[131] The latter had its full complement of
all grades, but the Regiment of Picardy could not muster a third of its
strength; and he was informed that part of the absentees had gone off to
serve as volunteers in Germany, where the Thirty Years’ War was just
beginning; while the rest had been seduced from their duty by the
Marquis de la Valette, d’Épernon’s second son, and had thrown themselves
into Metz with him.
The following day, Bassompierre received a letter from Louis XIII,
informing him that he was proceeding at once into Normandy to save
Rouen, which Longueville was endeavouring to raise against him, and
ordering him to assemble all the forces he could muster at
Saint-Menehould, leaving Vaubecourt’s regiment to garrison what places
in Champagne he considered necessary, and then to march with all
possible speed to Montereau, where he would receive further orders.
At Verdun Bassompierre received a visit from M. de Fresnel, Governor of
Clermont-en-Argonne, who was intimately acquainted with the military
resources of that part of France. Fresnel warned him that he would find
in every garrison-town the same condition of things as at Verdun, and
that, apart from Vaubecourt’s regiment, he doubted whether he would be
able to muster 2,000 men. The magazines, however, were full and capable
of equipping any number of men; and, if he were prepared to offer a
bounty to everyone who enlisted, he believed that plenty of recruits
would be forthcoming.
Bassompierre readily agreed to give the bounty which Fresnel advised,
though he had to find the money out of his own pocket, and in a few days
Fresnel had raised 800 men on his estates in the Argonne, with whom and
another 120 furnished by the town of Verdun, he filled the ranks of the
Regiment of Picardy. The Bailiff of Bar, a personal friend of his, sent
him 300, whom he drafted into the Regiment of Champagne; another 300
came from the Valley of Aillant, in the Yonne. The drum was beaten
vigorously at Vitry, Saint-Dizier, Châlons, Rheims, Sens and other
towns, and each of them furnished its contingent, with the result that
he soon found himself at the head of what, for those times, was quite a
formidable force, though, as the great majority of the men thus obtained
were raw recruits who had never been under fire, their fighting value
was not very great. However, he had the consolation of knowing that the
rebel forces would undoubtedly be at the same disadvantage.
Bassompierre had the good fortune to have at his disposal a number of
experienced commissariat-officers, and the arrangements he was thus
enabled to make for the rapid march of his army westwards,
notwithstanding that it was then the height of a very hot summer, appear
to have left little to be desired, and to have shown a solicitude for
the soldier’s comfort and well-being most unusual at this epoch.
“After deciding,” he says, “upon the routes which my troops were to
follow, I decided upon my marches, which I made longer than was
customary, to wit, nine or ten leagues per day. I gave orders that
each regiment should start at three or four in the morning and
march until nine o’clock, by which time it should have covered five
leagues. And I arranged that the halting-place should be near some
river or brook, where it would find a cart containing wine and
another filled with bread awaiting it, to refresh the soldiers.
Here they would rest until three of the afternoon, in order to
avoid marching during the heat of the day, and then take the road
again. And I further arranged that when they reached the village
where they were to pass the night, they should find the beasts that
were to provide their meal already slaughtered, for which I paid
one half of the cost, and the village the other. By this means, the
soldier, perceiving the care that I took that he should want for
nothing, performed without a murmur these long marches so far as
Montereau.”
On July 13, towards evening, Bassompierre arrived at Poivre, where he
had arranged to pass the night. Shortly afterwards, he received a visit
from a Huguenot gentleman named Despence, with whom he had some slight
acquaintance, and whom he invited to sup with him. When they rose from
table, M. Despence led him into the garden adjoining the house, and
there inquired if he might speak to him frankly and “in all security”;
by which he meant that whatever the nature of the communication he
wished to make might be, Bassompierre would afterwards suffer him to
depart in peace.
Bassompierre having given him the assurance he demanded, he informed him
that he came from Sedan, on behalf of the Duc de Bouillon, who had
charged him to say that while the duke, as a soldier himself, could not
help but commend the zeal and energy which M. de Bassompierre was
employing in raising and equipping troops and overcoming the
difficulties with which he had to contend, he wondered greatly what
could be the motive which prompted him to all this activity. Could it be
that he entertained some personal animosity against the Queen-Mother, to
whom, he had always understood, he was indebted for many benefits, or
had M. de Luynes placed him under some great obligation? The duke
desired to point out to M. de Bassompierre that the Queen-Mother and the
princes and nobles who supported her had not taken up arms to attack the
King or the State, but to decide whether both should be governed by her
who had ruled so well during his Majesty’s minority, or by three robbers
who had seized the authority and the person of the King. He praised M.
de Bassompierre’s resolution to “keep always to the trunk of the tree,
and to follow, not the best and most just party, but that which
possessed the person of the King and the seal and wax.” But to display
such fiery ardour, such boundless activity; to exceed even the orders of
the King in the rapidity with which he was pushing forward his troops;
to employ his own money so profusely as he was doing in the cause of
persons who had proved themselves so ungrateful to the Queen, their
first benefactress, and would prove no less ungrateful to their friends;
to be apparently intent on compassing the ruin of the party of the
Queen, the consort of the late King, who had been so much attached to
him; to assist “three pumpkins who had sprung up in a night”[132] to
trample upon her, and thus to compromise his reputation and his
honesty--for all this M. de Bouillon could see neither rhyme nor
reason.
After this long-winded preamble, M. Despence came to the point. The
duke, he said, had no intention of suggesting to M. de Bassompierre that
he should do anything contrary to his honour and duty; nothing was
further from his thoughts. But, if he could see his way to delay for
three weeks the junction of the army under his command with that of the
King, which might be done without disobeying the orders he had received
from his Majesty, who did not anticipate that he would be able to join
him before then; if he would rest content with such troops as he found
in garrison, and cease to amuse himself by levying everywhere at his own
expense men to reinforce them, and, in short, abate a little of his
ardour and animosity towards the party of the Queen-Mother, M. de
Bouillon would without delay deposit the sum of 100,000 crowns in the
hands of any banker whom he might be pleased to name, and no one but
themselves would be the wiser.
Bassompierre, with growing indignation, heard him to the end, and then
told him that he was astonished that he should have taken advantage of
the promise of safety he had received to make him so disgraceful a
proposition. “I did not think,” said he, “that M. de Bouillon knew me so
little as to imagine that money or any other advantage would make me
fail in my duty or honour. It is not animosity, but ardour and desire to
serve the King which has spurred me to these extraordinary exertions.
Next to his I am the most devoted servant of the Queen in the world;
but, when it is a question of the service of the King, I do not
recognise the Queen. I would that I could run or fly to whatever place
his service called me, and, as for my money, I would dispense that right
willingly to the last sol, provided that his affairs might be placed in
a good state. If you had not obtained an assurance of safety from me, I
should have had you arrested, and sent you to Châlons; but the promise I
have given you prevents me from doing that.”
With which he turned on his heel and left M. Despence to return whence
he came, marvelling greatly that so shrewd a judge of men as the lord of
Sedan professed to be should have sent him on so bootless an errand.
On the 18th, the army reached Montereau, and Bassompierre brought his
troops across the Seine and quartered them in and around Étampes. The
evening before he had received a letter from the King announcing that
Caen and Rouen had opened their gates to him; that Longueville had
retired to Dieppe and shut himself up there; while the Grand Prior, who
had been assisting him to stir up trouble, had fled to Angers, and that
his Majesty was about to begin his march to the Loire.
On the 19th, Bassompierre went to Paris to make arrangements for the
provisioning of his army. On going to salute Anne of Austria, her
Majesty told him that “she did not know whether to receive him as
general of an army or as a courier, seeing the extreme activity he had
displayed,” while the Council “could not believe that the army was at
Étampes and in such strength as he assured them was the case.”
As Bassompierre was so much ahead of his time, and there was no need for
him to begin his march to join the army of the King for some days, he
received orders to make an attempt to reduce Dreux, one of the few
places in Normandy still occupied by the rebels. He accordingly returned
to Étampes, and was about to set out for Dreux at the head of the
regiments of Champagne and Picardy and a detachment of cavalry, when he
received a letter from Anne of Austria informing him that she had
received intelligence that the Comte de Rochefort, husband of a lady to
whom Bassompierre had “offered his service” at the end of the previous
year, and who, we may presume, had been graciously pleased to accept it,
was in dire peril of his life. It appeared that Rochefort, who was
governor of the Château of Nantes, had been arrested at Angers by
orders of Marie de’ Medici, and that “M. de Vendôme intended to bring
him before the Château of Nantes, to force it to surrender; threatening,
in case of refusal, to cut off his head.” The only way to save M. de
Rochefort, wrote the Queen, was to seize Vendôme’s mother-in-law, Madame
de Mercœur, and his children, who were at the Château of Anet, near
Dreux, the palatial country-seat which Henri II had built for his
middle-aged inamorata Diane de Poitiers, and bring them as hostages to
Paris. “And she recommended to me this affair, which was very important
to the service of the King and which would afford infinite satisfaction
to Madame de Rochefort, of whom I was so much the servant.”
Bassompierre accordingly detached the greater part of his cavalry and
sent them to Anet to secure Madame de Mercœur and the little
Vendômes, and with the rest of his force presented himself before the
gates of Dreux. They were opened to him at once, and the citizens
shouted, “_Vive le Roi!_” with all the strength of their lungs; but
Bassompierre informed them that, although he was very gratified to hear
such cries, he would prefer to have some practical proof of their
loyalty. And he ordered them to assist him in bringing M. d’Escluzelles,
the governor of the château, to reason.
M. d’Escluzelles, however, refused to surrender, and, though
Bassompierre’s troops, with the assistance of the citizens, built a
formidable barricade which cut off all communication between the château
and the town, he appeared to regard their proceedings with indifference.
When, however, on the following day, Bassompierre caused him to be
informed that, unless he capitulated forthwith, he proposed to burn his
country-seat, which lay a few miles from Dreux, to the ground, cut down
every tree on his estate, and carry off his wife and children to Paris,
he “had pity upon his property and his family,” and sent to demand a
parley. Next morning (July 25), the château surrendered, and
Bassompierre having placed a garrison there and seen Madame de
Mercœur and her grandchildren, whom the cavalry had brought from
Anet, off to Paris, returned to Étampes and began his march towards the
Loire. On August 2 his army arrived at Connerré, not far from Le Mans,
where Louis XIII’s headquarters were, and Bassompierre went to pay his
respects to his Majesty, who gave him a most flattering reception and
“expressed himself very satisfied with the care and expedition which he
had shown.”
Two days later, the King reviewed Bassompierre’s army in the plain of
Gros Chataigneraie, near La Flèche. It now consisted of 8,000 infantry
and 600 cavalry, and his Majesty pronounced it “very fine and very
complete, and beyond what he had expected to find.” The two armies were
then joined into one corps, and the King having given the command to
Condé, with Praslin as his second in command, and appointed four
brigadier-generals, of whom Bassompierre was one, the Royal forces
advanced on Angers.
The rapid submission of Normandy had deceived all the expectations of
Marie de’ Medici, for d’Épernon was not yet ready to join her, nor had
Mayenne completed the formidable levies of troops which he was making in
Guienne. Towards the end of July, her troops had advanced so far as La
Flèche, but, on the news of the approach of the Royal army, had fallen
back rapidly on Angers. Richelieu endeavoured to stop the King by
opening negotiations, but Louis XIII, whose military instincts had been
awakened by the life of the camp, continued to advance. On August 6 the
Queen-Mother made new proposals, and, though Condé urged the King to
reject them, Luynes, who was still doubtful about the issue of the war,
persuaded Louis to return a favourable answer and to grant his mother an
armistice until the following morning. Deputies were then despatched to
Angers, but, owing to some misunderstanding, they had to wait several
hours before being admitted to the town. This delay was attended with
disastrous results to the insurgent forces.
The troops of the Queen-Mother, which did not exceed 8,000 men, were
spread out along a front of about four miles from Angers to the
Ponts-des-Cé, an important position which assured to them the passage of
the Loire. Vendôme, who commanded under the youthful Comte de Soissons,
the nominal chief of the army, had conceived the fantastic idea of
connecting these two towns by a long line of entrenchments, which,
however, were not yet half-finished, and which, even if they had been
completed, would have required a much larger force than the one at his
disposal to defend effectively. The Royal army was encamped in the plain
of Trélazé, about a league from the Ponts-des-Cé.
On the morning of the 7th, just about the time when the King’s
commissioners were entering Angers to conclude peace, Louis XIII was
persuaded by Condé, who was determined to do everything in his power to
prevent the termination of hostilities before a decisive defeat had been
inflicted on the Queen-Mother’s party, to consent to a reconnaissance in
force of the rebels’ position; and the Royal army accordingly advanced
to within sight of the unfinished entrenchments. Whether from cowardice
or from irritation at the neglect of his interests which Marie de’
Medici had shown in the treaty which was about to be signed, the Duc de
Retz chose this moment to withdraw from the position assigned to him
with his own regiment and another which had been placed under his
command, and to retire across the Loire. The disorder consequent on this
movement, which was entirely unexpected, was taken by the Royal captains
for the beginning of a general retreat, and on their advice the King
ordered the bugles to sound the attack.
Bassompierre’s troops, with those of the Marquis de Nerestang, formed
the left wing of the Royal army. Between them and the entrenchments lay
some fields, the hedges of which were lined with musketeers; but they
were speedily dislodged, and took refuge behind a body of cavalry, who
retreated, in their turn, without making any attempt to charge, so soon
as fire was opened upon them, and retired to what shelter the
entrenchments afforded. The cannon of the citadel now came into play,
but the gunners were quite unable to find the range, and not a man was
hit. As they neared the entrenchments, Bassompierre dismounted and,
taking a halberd from a sergeant, placed himself at the head of one of
the battalions of the Regiment of Champagne. On seeing this, Nerestang
rode up, exclaiming: “Monsieur, that is not the place for a
brigadier-general; you will be unable to make the other battalions fight
if you remain at the head of this one.”
“I answered,” says Bassompierre, “that he was right; but that these
regiments, which were largely composed of new recruits, would fight
well if they saw me at their head, and badly if I remained behind;
and since I had raised and brought them to this army, I had an
interest in their conducting themselves well. Then he said: ‘I
shall not remain on horseback if you are on foot,’ and,
dismounting, placed himself on my left.”
The entrenchments were carried with but little resistance, for the
defenders appear to have been demoralised by the desertion of Retz and
his troops and the suddenness of the attack, and fled in disorder
towards the town. A flanking-fire, however, from the roofs and windows
of some of the houses in the faubourgs caused a few casualties amongst
Bassompierre’s men; and, as they were crossing some open ground between
the trenches and the town, a squadron of cavalry emerged from a field,
deployed and seemed about to charge.
“And now,” says Bassompierre, “I shall relate a strange thing. A
man from one of our storming-companies who had remained behind--I
never learned his name--and who was carrying a pike, addressed
himself to a chief who was riding some twenty paces in front of the
others and gave his horse a thrust in the stomach with his pike.
The horse reared, upon which the soldier gave him another thrust;
and the rider, fearing to be thrown, wheeled to the left and
galloped off. And, at the same moment, the squadron wheeled in the
same direction and passed under the arch of the bridge, where the
water was very shallow.”
The Comte de Saint-Aignan, who, it will be remembered, had accompanied
the Comte de Soissons when he left Paris to join the Queen-Mother, was
with this squadron, having ridden up to order it to charge. He was on
its left flank and tried to rally the fugitives, but without success,
and was carried away with them for some little distance. Now, M. de
Saint-Aignan was a great dandy, and was wearing gilded armour and a hat
that was the _dernier cri_ in sumptuous headgear--a hat to marvel at,
adorned with great ostrich plumes fastened by diamond-buckles--and when
he at last succeeded in getting out of the press and pulling up his
horse, he found that his hat had been knocked off. He could not bring
himself to abandon it, and accordingly rode back to where it lay and
attempted to recover it with the point of his sword. Bassompierre,
passing near him, on his way into the town, did not attempt to make him
prisoner, and merely shouted: “Adieu, Saint-Aignan!” “Adieu, adieu!”
replied the count, without desisting from his efforts to recover his
hat. This was no easy matter, as his horse was very restive, but
eventually he succeeded and had just replaced it triumphantly on his
head, and was about to ride away, when he was stopped and taken prisoner
by two carabiniers.
The Royal troops continued their advance through the faubourgs and into
the town, the enemy making no attempt to rally, though there was a good
deal of desultory firing from the houses, and Nerestang had his right
thigh broken by a musket-shot.[133] In less than an hour, however, the
town was cleared of the rebels, some of whom took refuge in the château,
which surrendered on the following day, while the rest fled towards
Angers.
Bassompierre was then sent to report the result of the action to the
King and to take him the nobles who had been made prisoners. His
Majesty, whom he found in company with Condé, Luynes and Bellegarde,
“received him with extraordinary cordiality, and M. de Luynes spoke in
praise of him to _Monsieur le Grand_.” But when Louis XIII heard that
Saint-Aignan was amongst the prisoners, he looked very grave indeed, as
did the others, and they consulted together as to what was to be done
with him. Then the King informed Bassompierre that, as M. de
Saint-Aignan was, not only an officer of the regular army, but
Colonel-General of the Light Cavalry, and had been taken in arms against
his sovereign, it had been decided that he was to be tried at once by
the Keeper of the Seals, who was, with the army, and, in the event of
conviction, to be decapitated that very day. And so it seemed as though
poor Saint-Aignan had only succeeded in saving his hat at the cost of
his head.
Happily for him, Bassompierre was determined to save him.
“I firmly opposed this decision,” he writes, “and told the King and
_Monsieur le Prince_ that, if they treated him in this way, no man
of rank among the enemy would allow himself to be made prisoner,
from fear of dying by the hand of the executioner; that M. de
Créquy and I had received his surrender, and that he was a prisoner
of war; that the rank we held authorised us to give him our
assurance that he should be regarded as such, and that we were not
provost-marshals to cause our captives to be hanged. At the same
time, I sent to warn M. de Créquy, who sent word that he would
retire from the Ponts-des-Cé and would abandon everything,[134] if
he did not receive a promise that the execution would be suspended.
We obtained a respite until the morrow, when, the first indignation
against Saint-Aignan having spent itself, it was easy to persuade
them to abandon their resolution; and the peace which followed
accommodated his affair, by the surrender of his charge, which was
conferred upon La Curée.”
The engagement of the Ponts-des-Cé was a terrible blow to the
Queen-Mother’s party; nevertheless, Marie was far from reduced to
extremities. If no longer able to make peace on favourable terms, two
courses were open to her. She might shut herself up in Angers with what
was left of her army, and hold out until Mayenne and d’Épernon were able
to come to her assistance, or she might ford the Loire with her cavalry,
only a part of which had been engaged at the Ponts-des-Cé, and make her
way to Angoulême, where d’Épernon’s headquarters were. Thus, although no
hope of success now remained, she might succeed in prolonging the war
for months.
Luynes was aware of this, and aware too that a continuance of
hostilities could not fail to add to his unpopularity; while he was
beginning to fear Condé, with whom Louis XIII was now on quite
alarmingly friendly terms, almost as much as he feared the Queen-Mother.
The High Catholic party, too, were eager for peace, in order that the
King might have his hands free to deal with the Protestants of Béarn;
and their representations, joined to that of Luynes, decided Louis to
abandon any idea of imposing on his mother and her adherents the
stringent terms which their recent defeat would otherwise have
justified. The treaty, which was signed at Angers on August 10, was, to
all intents and purposes, a confirmation of that of the previous year,
save for a stipulation that the partisans of the Queen-Mother were not
to be restored to the offices and charges of which the King had disposed
during the rebellion. Three days later, Marie and her son met at
Brissac, and were, to all appearances, on the best of terms; and on the
16th a royal declaration proclaimed the innocence of the intentions of
the Queen-Mother and her adherents “during the late disturbances.”
Mayenne and d’Épernon thereupon laid down their arms, and the powerful
faction which for a moment had threatened to subvert the State melted
away.