Who will govern the King and France?--The pretenders to the royal
favour--Position of Bassompierre--The Cardinal de Retz and
Schomberg join forces and secure for their ally De Vic the office
of Keeper of the Seals--They propose to remove Bassompierre from
the path of their ambition by separating him from the
King--Bassompierre is offered the lieutenancy-general of Guienne
and subsequently the government of Béarn, but declines both
offices--He inflicts a sharp reverse upon Retz and Schomberg--Condé
joins the Court--His designs--The rival parties: the party of the
Ministers and the party of the marshals--_Monsieur le Prince_
decides to ally himself with that of the Ministers--Mortifying
rebuff administered by the King to the Ministers at the instance of
Bassompierre--Failure of an attempt of the Ministers to injure
Bassompierre and Créquy with Louis XIII--Arrival of the King in
Paris--Affectionate meeting between him and his mother--Accident to
the Queen.
Luynes dead, who would govern the King and France? Such was the question
which everyone was asking himself, for that Louis XIII, so jealous of
his royal authority, yet too indolent to exercise it himself, would
require someone to lean on was a foregone conclusion. There were many
pretenders. There was Marie de’ Medici, who, now that the man who had
estranged her son from her was no more, might hope to recover in time
much of the influence she had once exercised over the King. And Marie’s
triumph would mean that of Richelieu, who had now acquired so great an
ascendancy over her that scandal asserted that he was her lover. There
was the greedy and ambitious Condé, who had learned prudence from
adversity, but was in other respects but little changed. Luynes, in the
last months of his “reign,” had separated Condé from the King, and
tricked Richelieu out of the cardinal’s hat which had been the secret
condition of the prelate’s reconciliation with the favourite, addressing
a formal demand for it to Gregory XV, accompanied by a private request
to his Holiness not to accord it. But now the lists were again open to
them. Then there were the Ministers: the Cardinal de Retz, whom Luynes
had made the nominal chief of the Council, and his ally Schomberg,
Superintendent of Finance; the Chancellor Brulart de Sillery and his son
Puisieux, the Minister for Foreign Affairs; and old Jeannin. And all
these persons felt that they might have to reckon seriously with
Bassompierre, in whose society the King undoubtedly took more pleasure
than in that of any of them, and whom, they knew, the late Constable had
regarded as his only dangerous rival.
It is certain that, had Bassompierre been so minded, he would have stood
an excellent chance of succeeding to Luynes’s place as favourite, and
that his elevation would have been well received, as he was exceedingly
popular both at the Court and in the Army. But his epicurean wisdom
rejected the idea of a life of gilded slavery; to be obliged to forgo
the society of his “beautiful mistresses,” in order to dance attendance
upon his youthful sovereign and make up his mind for him a dozen times a
day, was not at all an attractive prospect to one who infinitely
preferred pleasure to grandeur; the royal favour, without the
responsibilities of power, was sufficient for him.
The Cardinal de Retz, Schomberg and Puisieux had the advantage of being
near the King at the time of the Constable’s death. The first two at
once joined forces against Puisieux and “aspired to become all-powerful
and to restrain the King from doing anything except on their advice.”
They secured a decided success by persuading Louis XIII to bestow the
vacant office of Keeper of the Seals upon De Vic, a counsellor of State,
who was devoted to their interests, and then put their heads together to
find a means of separating the King from Bassompierre, whom they
regarded as a serious obstacle in the path of their ambition. Louis
XIII arrived at Bordeaux on December 21, and shortly afterwards the two
Ministers proposed to him to leave Bassompierre in Guienne as
lieutenant-general of that province, in place of the Maréchal de
Roquelaure, who was to be compensated for the loss of his post by a
present of 200,000 livres and the government of Lectoure. Having
obtained his Majesty’s consent to this arrangement, they sent Roucellaï
to sound Bassompierre on the matter and “even offered to add to this
charge that of marshal of France.” But Bassompierre preferred to wait
upon events and to see into whose hands the management of affairs would
fall, foreseeing that whoever might secure it would not be strong enough
to maintain his position without support, and “being assured that he
would be very pleased to have him for a friend, and to give him a larger
share of the cake than they [Retz and Schomberg] were offering him.”
“When the King spoke to me of the lieutenancy-general [of Guienne],
I answered that I should esteem myself more happy to occupy the
post of Colonel-General of the Swiss near his person than any other
away from it; that I was only just recovering from a severe illness
which demanded three months’ repose, and that during that time I
desired no other employment than that of my first office of
Colonel-General. And to this his Majesty agreed.”
Although foiled in this attempt to get Bassompierre out of the way, Retz
and Schomberg presently returned to the charge, and having persuaded the
Maréchal de Thémines to surrender the government of Béarn, in exchange
for the lieutenancy-general of Guienne, offered it to Bassompierre. The
government of Béarn, though, in the present circumstances, it could
scarcely be regarded as a bed of roses, was a very honourable and
lucrative post. But its acceptance would, of course, entail an almost
complete separation from the King, and from--what was more important in
Bassompierre’s estimation--the Court and Paris; and he therefore
returned the same answer as he had in the case of Guienne.
A day or two later, Bassompierre had the satisfaction of inflicting a
sharp reverse upon the two Ministers.
The Cardinal and Schomberg had urged the King to follow up the capture
of Monheurt by the surprise of Castillon, on the Dordogne, which, they
declared, could very easily be carried out and would have an excellent
effect. Now, Castillon belonged to the Duc de Bouillon, who, at the
outbreak of hostilities, had entered into a compact with Louis XIII,
which stipulated that this and other towns within his jurisdiction
should “remain in the service of the King, but without making war on
those of the Religion”; while the King, on his side, promised that they
should in no way be interfered with. To seize Castillon therefore would
be a direct breach of this agreement, and could only be defended on the
ground that the townsfolk had sent assistance to the Huguenots, of which
there was no evidence of any value. Nevertheless, Louis XIII allowed
himself to be persuaded by the two Ministers to consent to this being
done, provided that the rest of the Council did not oppose it. When,
however, the project was laid before the Council, Bassompierre rose and
denounced it in a vigorous speech, in which he declared that, if
executed, it would be a “great stain on the King’s honour and
reputation,” after which he proceeded to give his Majesty some very
wholesome advice on the danger of breaking his royal word.
“Sire,” said he, “it is easy for a man to deceive a person who trusts
him, but it is not easy to deceive a second time. A promise badly
observed only once deprives him who breaks it of the trust of the whole
world.” And he stigmatized the counsel which had been given the King, of
the source of which he pretended ignorance, as “interested,
evil-intentioned and rash,” which, if followed, would probably result in
driving Bouillon into rebellion, and with him numbers of Protestants
who had hitherto remained neutral, since they would feel that it was
impossible to trust the word of the King.
One or two other members of the Council signified their agreement with
the views expressed by Bassompierre, upon which the King announced that
he had come to the same conclusion, to the great discomfiture of Retz
and Schomberg, who were forced to recognise that their design of
governing the young monarch was likely to prove a much more difficult
task than they had bargained for.
* * * * *
Louis XIII left Bordeaux on the last day of the year, and travelled by
easy stages towards Paris. At Château-neuf-sur-Charente, where he
arrived on January 6, 1622, another pretender to Luynes’s shoes appeared
upon the scene, in the person of Condé.
“_Monsieur le Prince_,” says Bassompierre, “who was extremely
cunning and supple, was equally courteous to everyone, without
inclining to any side, until he had perceived the tendency of the
market. His design was to persuade the King to continue the
Huguenot war, for three reasons, in my opinion: first, because of
the ardent affection which he had for his religion and his hatred
against the Huguenot party; secondly, because he thought that he
could govern the King better in time of war than in time of peace,
since he would undoubtedly be lieutenant-general of his army; and,
lastly, in order to separate him from the Queen his mother, the
Chancellor and the old Ministers, who were his antipathy.”
In order to ascertain the state of the Court, Condé addressed himself to
the Abbé Roucellaï, an adroit and insinuating personage, who had been in
turn the protégé of Concini, the Queen-Mother and Luynes, and who, now
that the Constable was dead, had decided to seek a new patron in
_Monsieur le Prince_. The abbé told him that there were two parties at
the Court. On one side, were the three Ministers, Retz, Schomberg and
the new Keeper of the Seals, De Vic, “who desired to possess the King’s
mind to the exclusion of everyone else”; on the other, the three
marshals of France, Praslin, Chaulnes, and Créquy[2] and some others,
who were resolved not to submit to this. He added that the King
conversed frequently with Bassompierre and appeared to have a rather
high opinion of him, and that, if the latter had any ambition to succeed
to the favour of the late Constable, it might very well be realised.
That, however, did not seem to be his desire, “although he was disposed
to accept the share in the King’s good graces which his services might
merit.” Bassompierre and the Ministers, he told the prince, were “not
always of the same opinion,” and only a few days before he had spoken
very bitterly against them before his Majesty in a council. Condé then
inquired if Bassompierre were in favour of continuing the war against
the Huguenots, and Roucellaï answered that he had pressed Luynes to
enter into negotiations with Rohan, from fear that the Royal army would
be obliged to raise the siege of Montauban. As a result of this
conversation, the prince sent Roucellaï to Bassompierre to inform him
that he wished to speak to him and ascertain his views in regard to the
war.
Before seeing Bassompierre, however, Condé had an interview with the
Ministers, whom he found in warlike mood, not because they believed that
any useful purpose could be served by a continuance of this fratricidal
strife, but for the same selfish reasons as he himself desired it,
namely, “to keep the King so far as possible from Paris, in order the
better to govern him.” He then approached Créquy, who answered that he
was in favour of peace, provided that it could be obtained on
advantageous and honourable terms. Bassompierre gave him a similar
reply, when he spoke to him on the matter, and added that he would find
Praslin and all other good servants of the King of the same opinion.
“It is singular,” said the prince; “all you men of war, who ought to
desire it, and can only make your way by means of it, want peace; and
the lawyers and statesmen demand war.” “I answered,” says Bassompierre,
“that I desired war, and that it ought to bring me fortune and
advancement, but only on condition that it was for the service of the
King and the good of the State; and that otherwise I should esteem
myself a bad servant of the King and a bad Frenchman, if, for my own
private advantage, I were to desire a thing which must cause both so
much evil and prejudice.”
After this sharp, if indirect, rebuke, Condé left him and told Roucellaï
that, after sounding Créquy and Bassompierre, he found that he was
likely to have more in common with the Ministers than with them.
During the remainder of the journey to Paris, skirmishes between the
rival parties were of frequent occurrence, each doing everything
possible to prejudice the King against the other. At Sauzé, where the
Court arrived on the 10th, Bassompierre again scored at the expense of
the Ministers.
Louis XIII was about to sit down to cards with Bassompierre and Praslin,
when the three Ministers were announced.
“The King said to us as he saw them enter: ‘_Mon Dieu_, how
tiresome these people are! When one is thinking of amusing oneself,
they come to torment me, and most often they have nothing to tell
me.’ I, who was very pleased to have the chance of giving them a
rebuff in revenge for the ill turns they were doing me every day,
said to the King: ‘What, Sire! Do these gentlemen come without
being sent for by you, or without having first informed your
Majesty that there is something of importance to deliberate upon,
and then ask for your time?’ ‘No,’ said he, ‘they never inform me,
and come when it pleases them, and most often when it does not
please me, as they do now.’ ‘Jesus, Sire! is it possible?’ I
replied. ‘That is to treat you like a scholar,
[Illustration: LOUIS XIII., KING OF FRANCE.
From an engraving by Picart.]
and make themselves your tutors, who come to give you a lesson when
it pleases them. You ought, Sire, to conduct your affairs like a
King, and every day, on your arrival at the place where you purpose
to spend the night, one of your Secretaries of State should come to
tell you if there be any news of importance which requires the
assembling of your Council, and then you should send for them to
come to you, either at that same hour, or at one which will be most
convenient to you. And, if they have anything to tell you, let them
inform you of it first, and then send them word when they are to
come to you. It was thus that the late King your father conducted
his affairs, and your Majesty ought to do likewise; and if they
[the Ministers] should come to you otherwise [_i.e._, without being
sent for], to send them away, and to tell them of your intention
firmly, once for all.’
“The King took the representations I had made him in very good
part, and said that, from that moment, he would put my counsel into
practice; and he went on talking to the Maréchal de Praslin and
myself. When our conversation had continued for some little time,
_Monsieur le Prince_ approached the King and said: ‘Sire, these
gentlemen [the Ministers] await you to hold the council.’ The King
turned to _Monsieur le Prince_ with an angry countenance and
exclaimed: ‘What council, Monsieur? I have not sent for them. I
shall end by being their valet; they come when they please, and
when it does not please me. Let them go away, if they wish to, and
let them come only when I shall send for them; it is for them to
consult my convenience and to send to inquire when that may be, and
not for me to consult theirs. I desire that, at the end of each
day’s journey, a Secretary of State should present himself at my
lodging to inform me what news there is, and, if it be of
importance, I will name a time to deliberate upon it; but I will
never allow them to name it; for I am their master.’
“_Monsieur le Prince_ was a little surprised at this response and
was very curious to know from what shop it came. He went back to
tell them [the Ministers], who requested him to inform the King
that they were come merely to receive the honour of his commands,
as courtiers, and not otherwise, and that if only his Majesty
would speak a word to them, they would go away. The King did so,
but very brusquely, and it was:--
“‘Messieurs, I am going to play cards with this company.’ Upon
which they made him a profound reverence and withdrew, very
astonished.”
The Ministers soon ascertained whom they had to thank for the very
mortifying rebuff which they had received from the King, and were more
incensed than ever against Bassompierre. The latter, who had been on
very friendly terms with the Cardinal de Retz until his Eminence’s
designs upon the King had brought their interests into collision, went
to see him the next day and assured him that, so far as he himself was
concerned, he was still his very humble servant. But he told him that he
had no love for his colleagues, Schomberg and De Vic, and wished them to
know it. The Cardinal begged him to be reconciled with them, but within
forty-eight hours two incidents occurred which removed all hope of this.
It happened that, the following evening, news arrived that the Maréchal
de Roquelaure was dangerously ill and that his recovery was considered
hopeless. “Upon which,” says Bassompierre, “these gentlemen [the three
Ministers] and _Monsieur le Prince_ went in a body to the King to demand
the charge of marshal of France, which he [Roquelaure] had, for M. de
Schomberg. The only answer which the King made them was to say: “And
Bassompierre--what shall he become?” This crude reply deeply affected M.
de Schomberg, and from that day we ceased to speak to one another.”[3]
The second incident, which followed closely upon the first, served to
embitter still further the relations between these two gentlemen.
“It happened on the morrow that the King only travelled one
stage,[4] at which we [Créquy and himself] were annoyed, because we
saw that these gentlemen [the Ministers] were purposely delaying
the King’s arrival, thinking, if time were allowed them, to usurp
the authority before he had seen the Queen his mother and the old
Ministers. The Maréchal de Créquy and I, while warming ourselves in
the King’s wardrobe, complained of these short journeys, upon which
the Comte de la Roche-guyon told us that they were made out of
consideration for the French and Swiss Guards, who otherwise would
be unable to follow us. We said then that this consideration ought
not to occasion such a long delay; that we, who were respectively
in command of the two regiments of Guards, did not complain, that
the Guards would march so far as the King pleased, and that we
could make them do what we wished. Out of these last words, which
were reported to the Ministers, they proceeded to compound three
dishes for the King, saying that we boasted of making the two
regiments of Guards do what we wished, and that we could turn them
in whatever direction we pleased. They attacked the King on his
weak side, and he was angry at seeing that we were compromising his
authority.
“The evening before he arrived at Poitiers, he told me that he
desired to speak to me on the following morning, and said to me: ‘I
promised to tell you all that might be said to me concerning you.
That is why, since it has been reported to me that you were
boasting of being able to persuade the Swiss to do all that you
wished, and even against my service, I desired to make you
understand that I do not approve of such discourse being held, and
less by you than by another, seeing that I have always had entire
confidence in you.’
“‘God be praised, Sire,’ I answered, ‘that my enemies, seeking
every means to injure me, are unable to find anything save what is
easy for me to avert and bring to naught. This accusation is of
that quality, and you can learn the truth from their own mouths,
although it is but little accustomed to issue from them. Ask them,
Sire, on what subject I said that I would make the Swiss do what I
wished, and if they do not tell you that it was on that of their
making long or short marches, about which M. de Créquy and I were
complaining to one another, since they make arrangements for your
Majesty to travel a shorter distance each day to return to Paris
than a parish procession would cover, I am willing to lose my life.
And your Majesty can judge whether that touches you or not, and
whether you ought to regard this discourse as a boast of being able
to employ the Swiss against your service.’”
The King did not accept Bassompierre’s proposal to confront him with his
accusers; but he sent for two valets of his wardrobe, who had been
present during the conversation between him and Créquy, and questioned
them in his presence. They confirmed what Bassompierre had just told
him, and his Majesty expressed himself satisfied that he had spoken the
truth.
This clumsy attempt to injure Bassompierre recoiled upon its authors in
a manner that was distinctly embarrassing for them. A few days later,
when the King was at Châtellerault, the Ministers proposed that he
should travel on the following day only so far as La Haye-Descartes, on
the right bank of the Creuse, a very short day’s journey. Louis,
however, announced his intention of going on to Sainte-Maure, adding
significantly that it seemed to him that, if they could have their way,
he would not reach Paris for three months.
These squabbles between the jealous and spiteful courtiers and Ministers
who surrounded Louis XIII, to all appearance so trifling, were in
reality of great political importance. For they were all manœuvres in
the struggle to dominate the indolent and fickle mind, and, with it, the
policy, of this young monarch, who, while so punctilious in exacting all
the respect which he considered due to his royal dignity, was ready to
surrender the sovereign authority to the favourite of the moment. And
upon the result of that struggle hung the destinies, not only of France,
but of Europe.
* * * * *
On January 27, Louis XIII arrived in Paris, where Marie de’ Medici was
awaiting him. The meeting between them was most affectionate. Marie
expressed the greatest joy at seeing her son return to his capital so
well in health and now indeed the master; and the King replied that he
intended to prove to everyone that never did son love or honour his
mother more. Marie believed him too easily. Louis XIII was twenty-one
and not nearly so manageable as he had been as a lad; and he feared the
authoritative temper of Richelieu, of whom the Nuncio Corsini wrote to
Gregory XV that he was “of a character to tyrannise over both the King
and his mother.” Besides, to re-establish her influence over her son it
was necessary for the Queen-Mother to keep him near her, and
circumstances were to render this impossible.
Notwithstanding that the country was rent by civil war, and that so many
distinguished families were in mourning for relatives fallen before
Montauban, the winter in Paris seems to have been as gay as ever. “The
Court was very beautiful, and the ladies also,” says Bassompierre, “and
during the Carnival several fine comedies and grand ballets were
performed.” In the middle of March, however, a most unfortunate incident
occurred, which cast a gloom over both Court and capital.
Early in 1622, to the great joy of the nation, the Queen had been
declared pregnant. Prayers were offered up in all the churches in France
for her safe delivery, and all those about her Majesty’s person were
strictly enjoined not to allow her to exert herself, to which
instructions, however, they unfortunately appear to have paid but little
heed. One evening, Anne of Austria and a party of courtiers, amongst
whom were the widowed Duchesse de Luynes and Mlle. de Verneuil, went to
spend the evening with the Princesse de Condé, who was ill and confined
to her bed. On their way back to the Queen’s apartments, they were
passing through the _grande salle_ of the Louvre, when Madame de Luynes
and Mlle. de Verneuil seized their royal mistress by the arms and began
to run. They had not, however, gone many paces when the Queen tripped
and fell on her face. A few hours later, to the general dismay, it was
known that her Majesty had had a miscarriage.
Louis XIII was furiously indignant, as well he might be, and wrote to
the two delinquents with his own hand, ordering them to retire from
Court. It is probable that the disgrace of _Madame la Connétable_,
against whom, as we know, his Majesty already had a grievance, might
have lasted some considerable time, had not her marriage with the Duc de
Chevreuse, who stood high in the King’s favour, paved the way for her
return.