Story of the Queen-mother's Marriage with Cardinal Mazarin Published in
Holland.
Despite the endeavours made by the ministers concerning the pamphlet or
volume about which I am going to speak, neither they nor the King
succeeded in quashing a sinister rumour and an opinion which had taken
deep root among the people. Ever since this calumny it believes--and
will always believe--in the twin brother of Louis XIV., suppressed, one
knows not why, by his mother, just as one believes in fairy-tales and
novels. This false rumour, invented by far-seeing folk, is that which
has most affected the King. I will recount the manner in which it
reached him.
Since the disorder and insolence of the Fronde, this prince did not like
to reside in the capital; he soon invented pretexts for getting away from
it. The chateau of the Tuileries, built by Catherine de Medici at some
distance from the Louvre, was, really speaking, only a little
country-house and Trianon. The King conceived the plan of uniting this
structure with his palace at the Louvre, extending it on the Saint Roch
side and also on the side of the river, and this being settled, the
Louvre gallery would be carried on as far as the southern angle of the
new building, so as to form one whole edifice, as it now appears.
While these alterations were in progress, the Court quitted the Louvre
and the capital, and took up its permanent residence at Saint Germain.
Though ceasing to make a royal residence and home of Paris, his Majesty
did not omit to pay occasional visits to the centre of the capital. He
came incognito, sometimes on horseback, sometimes in a coach, and usually
went about the streets on foot. On these occasions he was dressed
carelessly, like any ordinary young man, and the better to ensure a
complete disguise, he kept continually changing either the colour of his
moustache or the colour and cut of his clothes. One evening, on leaving
the opera, just as he was about to open his carriage door, a man
approached him with a great air of mystery, and tendering a pamphlet,
begged him to buy it. To get rid of the importunate fellow, his Majesty
purchased the book, and never glanced at its contents until the following
day.
Imagine his surprise and indignation! The following was the title of his
purchase:
"Secret and Circumstantial Account of the Marriage of Anne of Austria,
Queen of France, with the Abbe Jules Simon Mazarin, Cardinal of the Holy
Roman Church. A new edition, carefully revised. Amsterdam."
Grave and phlegmatic by nature, the King was always master of his
feelings, a sign, this, of the noble-minded. He shut himself up in his
apartment, so as to be quite alone, and hastily perused the libellous
pamphlet.
According to the author of it, King Louis XIII., being weak and languid,
and sapped moreover by secret poison, had not been able to beget any
heirs. The Queen, who secretly was Mazarin's mistress, had had twins by
the Abbe, only the prettier of the two being declared legitimate. The
other twin had been entrusted to obscure teachers, who, when it was time,
would give him up.
The princess, so the writer added, stung by qualms of conscience, had
insisted upon having her guilty intimacy purified by the sacrament of
marriage, to which the prime minister agreed. Then, mentioning the names
of such and such persons as witnesses, the book stated that "this
marriage was solemnised on a night in February, 1643, by Cardinal de
Sainte-Suzanne, a brother and servile creature of Mazarin's."
"This explains," added the vile print, "the zeal, perseverance, and
foolish ardour of the Queen Regent in defending her Italian against the
just opposition of the nobles, against the formal charges of the
magistrates, against the clamorous outcry, not only of Parisians, but of
all France. This explains the indifference, or rather the firm resolve,
on Mazarin's part; never to take orders, but to remain simply 'tonsure'
or 'minore',--he who controls at least forty abbeys, as well as a
bishopric.
"Look at the young monarch," it continued, "and consider how closely he
resembles his Eminence, the same haughty glance; the same uncontrolled
passion for pompous buildings, luxurious dress and equipages; the same
deference and devotion to the Queen-mother; the same independent customs,
precepts, and laws; the same aversion for the Parisians; the same
resentment against the honest folk of the Fronde."
This final phrase easily disclosed its origin; nor upon this point had
his Majesty the slightest shadow of a doubt.
The same evening he sent full instructions to the lieutenant-general of
police, and two days afterwards the nocturnal vendor of pamphlets found
himself caught in a trap.
The King wished him to be brought to Saint Germain, so that he might
identify him personally; and, as he pretended to be half-witted or an
idiot, he was thrown half naked into a dungeon. His allowance of dry
bread diminished day by day, at which he complained, and it was decided
to make him undergo this grim ordeal.
Under the pressure of hunger and thirst, the prisoner at length made a
confession, and mentioned a bookseller of the Quartier Latin, who, under
the Fronde, had made his shop a meeting-place for rebels.
The bookseller, having been put in the Bastille, and upon the same diet
as his salesman, stated the name of the Dutch printer who had published
the pamphlet. They sought to extract more from him, and reduced his diet
with such severity that he disclosed the entire secret.
This bookseller, used to a good square meal at home, found it impossible
to tolerate the Bastille fare much longer. Bound hand and foot, at his
final cross-examination he confessed that the work had emanated from the
Cardinal de Retz, or certain of his party.
He was condemned to three years' imprisonment, and was obliged to sell
his shop and retire to the provinces.
I once heard M. de Louvois tell this tale, and use it as a means of
silencing those who regretted the absence of the exiled
Cardinal-archbishop.
As to the libellous pamphlet itself, the clumsy nature of it was only too
plain, for the King is no more like Mazarin than he is like the King of
Ethiopia. On the contrary, one can easily distinguish in the general
effect of his features a very close resemblance to King Louis XIII.
The libellous pamphlet stated that, on the occasion of the Infanta's
first confinement, twins were born, and that the prettier of the two had
been adopted, another blunder, this, of the grossest kind. A book of
this sort could deceive only the working class and the Parisian lower
orders, for folk about the Court, and even the bourgeoisie, know that it
is impossible for a queen to be brought to bed in secret. Unfortunately
for her, she has to comply with the most embarrassing rules of etiquette.
She has to bear her final birth-pangs under an open canopy, surrounded at
no great distance by all the princes of the blood; they are summoned
thither, and they have this right so as to prevent all frauds,
subterfuges, or impositions.
When the King found the seditious book in question, the Queen, his
mother, was ill and in pain; every possible precaution was taken to
prevent her from hearing the news, and the lieutenant-general of police,
having informed the King that two-thirds of the edition had been seized
close to the Archbishop's palace, orders were given to burn all these
horrible books by night, in the presence of the Marquis de Beringhen,
appointed commissioner on this occasion.