The Assembly of the Notables--Bassompierre nominated one of the
four presidents--The “sorry Château of Versailles”--The ballet of
_le Sérieux et le Grotesque_--Execution of Montmorency-Boutteville
and Des Chapelles for duelling--Death of _Madame_--Preparations for
war with England--Louis XIII resolves to take command of the army
assembled in Poitou--The King falls ill at the Château of
Villeroy--Bassompierre is prevented by Richelieu from visiting
him--Intrigue by which the Duc d’Angoulême is appointed to the
command of the army which ought to have devolved upon
Bassompierre--Descent of Buckingham upon the Île de Ré--Blockade of
the fortress of Saint-Martin--Investment of La Rochelle by the
Royal army--Bassompierre, the King, and Richelieu at the Château of
Saumery--The Cardinal assumes the practical direction of the
military operations--Provisions and reinforcements are thrown into
Saint-Martin--Refusal of the Maréchaux de Bassompierre and
Schomberg to allow Angoulême to be associated with them in the
command of the Royal army--Schomberg is persuaded to accept the
duke as a colleague--Bassompierre persists in his refusal and
requests permission of the King to leave the army--He is offered
and accepts the command of a separate army, which is to blockade La
Rochelle from the north-western side--He declines the government of
Brittany--Dangerous situation of Buckingham’s army in the Île de
Ré--Unsuccessful attempt to take Saint-Martin by
assault--Disastrous retreat of the English.
During Bassompierre’s absence in England, Louis XIII had paid him the
very high compliment of nominating him one of the four presidents of the
Assembly of the Notables, which was opened at the Tuileries by the King
on December 2, 1626, and continued sitting until February 24 of the
following year. This assembly, from which Richelieu had systematically
excluded all the makers of cabals at the Court--that is to say,
practically all the great nobles--voted in accordance with the
Cardinal’s desires and recommended the reduction of useless expenditure,
pensions, and the King’s Household, the re-organisation of the Army,
which, when on a peace footing, was not to exceed 20,000 men, the
strengthening of the Navy, the relief of the lower noblesse as a
counterpoise to the greater, and the destruction of all the
fortifications of towns and châteaux not required for the defence of the
frontiers.
Bassompierre, being the junior of the four presidents,[103] does not
appear to have spoken very often, but a sentence in one of his speeches
is worth recording, in the light of subsequent events. Praising Louis
XIII for the economy he had shown in not erecting any new buildings and
even suspending the completion of these commenced before he came to the
throne, he continued:--
“This shows that he had no inclination to build, and that the
finances of France will not be drained by sumptuous edifices
erected by him; unless someone wishes to reproach him with having
built _the sorry Château of Versailles_, of the construction of
which even a simple gentleman would not wish to boast.”
It was this “sorry Château of Versailles”--then a mere
hunting-lodge--which, under Louis XIII’s successor, was to be
transformed into the most costly and magnificent royal palace in Europe.
During the winter Bassompierre took part in a ballet organised by the
King at the Louvre and the Hôtel de Ville, in which his Majesty danced
himself. In this ballet, which was entitled _le Sérieux et le
Grotesque_, what appeared to be a number of gigantic bottles entered
from one wing and a party of Swiss officers from the other. The officers
hastened eagerly towards the bottles, which, however, suddenly
transformed themselves into women, whereupon the Swiss fled in alarm.
But the ladies produced goblets brimming with wine, at the sight of
which the officers returned, and Bassompierre, representing the
Colonel-General of the Swiss, declaimed several stanzas in praise of
Cupid and Bacchus:
“Lorsqu, Amour me faisait mourir,
Bacchus m’est venu secourir
Et rendre à jamais redevable;
Et toutesfois ce petit Dieu
Dans mon cœur qu’il rend miserable
Prétend d’avoir le premier lieu.”
And so forth.
In the course of the spring an event occurred which created an immense
sensation and showed that Richelieu was no respecter of persons and was
resolved to enforce obedience to the royal authority, even at the
expense of the noblest blood in France.
One of the greatest social evils of the age was that of duelling, which,
bad as it had been in the troublous times of the last Valois, had become
even worse under Henri IV, during whose reign it is computed that no
less than 8,000 gentlemen lost their lives on the “field of honour.”
During the early years of Louis XIII’s reign the evil continued
unabated; duels were of almost daily occurrence; men quarrelled and
fought for the most trifling difference; they drew upon one another in
the public street; they exchanged challenges to mortal combat even in
the King’s chamber. From time to time various edicts against duelling
had been issued, but the penalties attaching to their infraction had
been seldom enforced, and it was not until Richelieu came into power
that the first serious attempt to put a stop to it was made. In March,
1626, the Cardinal persuaded the King to issue a new and severe edict
against the practice, which was to be punished by confiscation of
property, by exile, and, in aggravated cases, by death. At first,
however, the edict would not appear to have been taken very seriously,
and duels continued to be fought without any very unpleasant
consequences to the offenders. But Richelieu was only waiting for a
chance to make a terrible example.
In March, 1627, the Seigneur de Boutteville, a member of the great
House of Montmorency and one of the most notorious _bretteurs_ of the
time, had an “affair” with the Marquis de la Frette, captain of
_Monsieur’s_ guards, in which Boutteville’s second, a gentleman named
Bachoy, was killed. As this was not the first occasion on which M. de
Boutteville had defied the edict,[104] the King, in high indignation,
ordered Bassompierre to send three companies of the Swiss Guards to
invest the delinquent’s château of Précy-sur-Oise, to which he was
reported to have retired, and sent the Grand Provost with them to arrest
him. When, however, the Grand Provost and the Swiss reached Précy, they
found that their bird had flown and had taken refuge in Lorraine.
If Boutteville had had the sense to remain there until the affair had
blown over, all might have been well, as in his duel with La Frette he
had not been the aggressor. But, indignant at the sentence of exile
which had been pronounced against him, he boasted that he would fight
his next duel in the middle of the Place-Royale. This bravado he duly
accomplished some weeks later, and his second, the Comte des Chapelles,
killed Bussy d’Amboise, who was acting in the same capacity to
Boutteville’s adversary, the Marquis de Beuvron.[105] Beuvron fled to
Italy, while Boutteville and Des Chapelles made for Lorraine; but, on
their way, they stopped for a night at Vitré-le-Français, of which place
Bussy d’Amboise had been governor, and the mother of the dead man, who
had sent one of her servants after them, learning of their arrival,
informed the authorities of the town, who caused them to be arrested.
Boutteville and Des Chapelles--the latter was also a Montmorency, on
his mother’s side--were conducted to the Bastille and brought to trial
before the Parlement. The Procurator-General was instructed to demand
the extreme penalty, and they were both condemned to death. What was
more, the sentence was duly carried out, for, notwithstanding the
entreaties and remonstrances of all the great nobles in France, the
King, thanks to Richelieu’s efforts, was inexorable, and on June 22,
1627, they were beheaded in the Place de Grève.[106]
This most necessary example had, for a time, a very salutary effect,
for, however reckless men might be, few cared to face the executioner’s
axe. But after Richelieu’s death the practice was renewed, and, though
it never attained to anything like the proportions it had reached in the
early part of the seventeenth century, duels were still both numerous
and sanguinary, as will be gathered from the fact that during the eight
years of Anne of Austria’s regency more than a thousand gentlemen lost
their lives in them.
On May 29 _Madame_ gave birth to a daughter--the celebrated Mlle. de
Montpensier--“contrary to the expectation and the desire of their
Majesties and of _Monsieur_ her husband, who would have preferred a
son.” The poor lady only survived the birth of her little daughter a few
days, and her death cast a gloom over the Court, and from a political
point of view was most unfortunate, since it afforded Richelieu’s many
enemies an opportunity for fresh intrigues.
About the same time, news arrived of the formidable armament which
Buckingham was assembling at Portsmouth, and the French Government did
not doubt that the duke was meditating a descent upon the western coast
of France, and that his arrival there would be the signal for the
Rochellois and probably the bulk of the Huguenots to take up arms. No
time, therefore, was lost in assembling an army in Poitou, and Louis
XIII gave the command to _Monsieur_, and appointed Bassompierre and
Schomberg as his lieutenant-generals. The King decided also to go to the
West himself, and on June 28--the day after Buckingham’s expedition
sailed from Portsmouth--he left Paris.
On the morning of his departure, he went with Bassompierre to the
Arsenal to inspect the artillery, and then proceeded to the Parlement to
take leave of that body and to hold a Bed of Justice for the purpose of
securing the registration of the Code Michaut.[107] At the conclusion of
the ceremony Bassompierre gave him his hand to assist him to descend
from his seat, upon which the King remarked: “Marshal, I have an attack
of fever coming on, and did nothing but tremble the whole time I was on
my Bed of Justice.” “That is, nevertheless, the place where you make
others tremble,” replied the ready courtier; “but if that be the case,
Sire, why are you going into the country with a fever upon you? Remain
here for two or three days.” Louis, however, declared that it was the
crowd of persons who had come to take leave of him that day which had
caused him to feel ill, and that, so soon as he got into the country, he
would probably be better. But he told Bassompierre to send one of his
servants after him to Marolles, where he was to sleep that night, and he
would send him news of his health. Meantime, he was to hasten his
preparations for leaving Paris, as he wished him to join him so soon as
possible.
Next day, the servant whom Bassompierre had sent after the King reported
on his return that he had left his Majesty just entering his coach to go
to the Château of Villeroy, and that he had bidden him inform his master
that he was worse and desired him to come and see him on the morrow.
In the morning, accordingly, Bassompierre, accompanied by Guise,
Chevreuse, and Saint-Luc, who had asked to come with him, started for
Villeroy. On their arrival at the château they were met by Richelieu,
“with whom,” says the marshal, “I had fallen out a little”--who, after
greeting the princes, turned to Bassompierre and said: “The King would
be very pleased to see you, but he is in such a condition that the
company which has come with you would inconvenience him. He has broken
out in a great perspiration. That is why I advise you not to see him. I
will inform him that you have come, and will convey the compliments of
these princes to him.” With which he went back to the King’s chamber,
and Bassompierre and his friends returned to Paris.
As he was leaving the château, Bassompierre learned that the Duc
d’Angoulême was with the King, but he did not attach any importance to
this at the time. However, the next day, in Paris, he met that prince
riding in his coach, when Angoulême stopped, alighted and embraced the
marshal, saying: “I bid you adieu, as I am leaving in two hours’ time
for Poitou.” “For what purpose?” inquired Bassompierre. “To command the
army there,” was the reply.
Bassompierre was profoundly astonished at this news, for, if the King
were too ill to continue his journey and _Monsieur_ remained with him,
the command of the army naturally devolved upon himself, as the senior
marshal of the two lieutenant-generals who had been appointed. He felt
convinced that he had been the victim of some intrigue, and this proved
to be the case.
It appears that Bassompierre’s conduct of his mission to England had
given great dissatisfaction to the High Catholic party in France, and,
in particular, to the Bishop of Mende, who complained bitterly that the
marshal had blamed his conduct generally, and several of his actions in
particular, during the time that he had been Grand Almoner to Henrietta
Maria. This prelate, in consequence, had conceived the bitterest hatred
of Bassompierre, and, to avenge himself, was doing everything in his
power to injure him with Richelieu, whose relative and protégé he was.
In this he had succeeded, the more easily since Richelieu invariably
looked with a jaundiced eye upon those who enjoyed the personal
friendship of the King, and had apparently persuaded the Cardinal that
Bassompierre had become on such intimate terms with Buckingham and other
English statesmen during his embassy, that he ought to be regarded with
distrust. The consequence was that when, on Louis XIII being taken ill,
Angoulême, who entertained an absurdly exaggerated idea of his military
capacity, had suggested that, since _Monsieur_ would, of course, remain
with his Majesty, he should be sent to Poitou to organise the army
there, on the ground that it consisted largely of light cavalry, of
which he was Colonel, he supported this proposal, although he was well
aware that the prince hoped that his temporary command would become a
permanent one.
The King objected. “And Bassompierre,” said he, “what will he do? Is he
not my lieutenant-general?” “Yes, Sire,” answered the Cardinal; “but
since he has never been of opinion that the English would make a descent
on France, he will not be so solicitous to place your army in a fit
state to take the field; and M. d’Angoulême does not pretend to any
command--as he will tell you himself--and will retire so soon as your
Majesty arrives, knowing well that the command belongs by right to the
marshals of France.” Angoulême was then admitted, and, after some
further persuasion, the King yielded and signed an order giving him
command of the army.
In the course of the next few days Louis XIII became so ill that his
physicians were seriously alarmed, and it was deemed advisable for the
two Queens to proceed to Villeroy and establish themselves at the
château. Bassompierre, however, did not again visit the King,
“contenting himself with sending every day to learn news of his health,”
apparently because he feared that his presence at Villeroy might give
umbrage to the Cardinal. The Duc de Guise, however, was a frequent
visitor, and one day the King called him to his bedside and said: “M. du
Bois”--he often called Bassompierre by this name, though why the marshal
does not tell us--“is angry with me; but he is under a wrong impression.
I beg you to bring him with you the next time you come, and tell him
this from me.”
Accordingly, a day or two later, Bassompierre went with the duke to
Villeroy; but Richelieu accompanied him into the King’s chamber, and the
Queen-Mother came in shortly afterwards, and he had no opportunity of
speaking to his Majesty. However, while his mother and Richelieu were at
dinner, the King sent Roger, his first valet of his Wardrobe, to request
Bassompierre to return, when he told him that he did wrong to be annoyed
because he had sent Angoulême to Poitou; that he had been forced to do
so; that he had not entrusted him with any powers; and that, so soon as
his health would permit him to travel to the army, he intended to revoke
the commission which he had given the prince, and place the troops under
the marshal’s orders. Upon which Bassompierre assured him, like a true
courtier, that “he was not troubling himself about the matter; that he
could think of nothing for the moment but his Majesty’s health (for the
restoration of which he was offering up constant prayers to God), and
that, being his creature, he approved everything that he did, though it
were to his own prejudice.”
Notwithstanding these assurances, however, it is evident that the
marshal was deeply mortified at seeing himself superseded.
* * * * *
In the afternoon of July 10, the English expedition, which consisted of
forty-two ships-of-war and thirty-four transports, with 6,000 infantry
and 100 cavalry on board, arrived off Saint-Martin-de-Ré, the principal
town of the Île de Ré, opposite La Rochelle. If Buckingham had made his
descent upon Fort Louis, as the Huguenots who accompanied him desired,
this fortress, shut in between the English and the Rochellois, must
inevitably have been captured, as Toiras, who, on the death of the
Maréchal de Praslin in the preceding year, had succeeded him as governor
of Aunis, had withdrawn the greater part of its garrison to strengthen
Saint-Martin-de-Ré, and the result of the fall of Fort-Louis would have
been disastrous to France. But the Rochellois had so far refused to
commit themselves definitely to an alliance with England; and, apart
from this, there were reasons which made Buckingham particularly anxious
to get possession of Ré. If it should fall into English hands, it would
be a veritable thorn in the side of French, and to a less degree of
Spanish, commerce, since its ports within the still waters of the
straits which divided it from the mainland would afford an admirable
lair for privateers; while its proximity to the Protestant populations
of South-Western France would open the door to a skilful use of
religious and political intrigue. Its salt marshes, moreover, would
afford a very valuable source of revenue to the English exchequer.
On the morning of the 12th a council of war was held, as a result of
which it was decided that Sir William Becher, accompanied by Soubise and
an agent of Rohan, should proceed to La Rochelle to ascertain whether
the citizens were prepared to accept the hand which his Britannic
Majesty was holding out to them, and that the troops should be landed at
once.
Toiras had collected about 1,000 foot and 200 horse to oppose the
landing, which began about five o’clock in the afternoon, under cover of
the fire from the ships. There was a painful lack of discipline amongst
the troops, which was not surprising, considering that they were chiefly
composed of raw material; and the first boatloads which disembarked
gathered in clusters along the beaches instead of falling into line.
Buckingham, cudgel in hand, hurried up and down “beating some and
threatening others”; but when two regiments were on shore, he was
obliged to return to the fleet to do the like there, as some of the
troops showed a marked disinclination to leave the shelter of the ships.
Hardly had he reached it, when Toiras, perceiving his opportunity,
launched his cavalry upon the disorderly groups on the beach, and,
despite the efforts of their officers to rally them, drove them headlong
into the sea. Had the French cavalry been properly supported by their
infantry, the two regiments must have been destroyed or captured almost
to a man; but the infantry were far behind, and, meantime, Buckingham,
who, with all his faults, lacked neither courage nor energy, perceiving
what had happened, hurried back, and by his exertions, aided by those of
their officers, succeeded in rallying the fugitives and forming them
into line. Reinforcements were landed, and, after some fierce fighting,
numbers prevailed, and the French were obliged to retreat to
Saint-Martin. The English lost about 500 men, the French about 400,
including a number of nobles and gentlemen, amongst whom were a younger
brother of Toiras and the Baron de Chantal, father of Madame de Sévigné.
While this combat was in progress on the shore of the Île de Ré, Sir
William Becher and Soubise had arrived at La Rochelle. They found the
gates shut, however; and it was only when the dowager Duchess of Rohan,
who was immensely popular with the Rochellois, went out to meet her son
and the envoy of Buckingham and demanded that they should be admitted,
that they were allowed to enter the town, “to the great joy of the
people, but against the will of the mayor and those who governed.”
Having been conducted to the Hôtel de Ville, Becher offered the
authorities of the town, in the name of Charles I, powerful support on
land and sea against the tyranny of their own Government, provided that
they would engage to make no treaty without the advice and consent of
the King of England, “promising the same on his part.” The municipality
replied that they thanked the King of England for his sympathy with the
Protestants of France, but that La Rochelle was only one of the Reformed
Churches and could not come to a decision except in concert with the
others.
The middle classes, in fact, not only at La Rochelle, but in the other
Huguenot towns of France, feared war. The party had now only two chiefs,
Rohan and his brother Soubise. Bouillon was dead; Sully was old and less
than ever disposed to revolt; La Force and Châtillon had accepted the
bâton of marshal of France as the price of their loyalty; La Trémoille
was about to change his religion. The nobles were deserting the cause.
The revolt was, besides, difficult to justify. Louis XIII had certainly
refused to demolish Fort Louis, but he had only promised to do so when
he should judge its maintenance to be no longer necessary; while the
fortifications recently constructed on Richelieu’s advice at Brouage,
Marans, and on the Îles de Ré and d’Oléron, might be explained as much
as by fear of the English as by hostility towards La Rochelle. The most
clear-sighted amongst the citizens felt that the Government entertained
hostile intentions, but their apprehensions were their only proofs.
The Protestants of the South were as undecided as those of La Rochelle.
Rohan, determined on war, did not venture to convene a General Assembly
of the Churches, but contented himself with summoning deputies from the
Cévennes, and those towns of Lower Languedoc upon whose support he could
rely, to meet at Uzès. This assembly, inflamed by the duke’s
exhortations, invited him to resume the post of general-in-chief of the
Protestant forces, and decreed the taking up of arms and an alliance
with England. At the same time, the deputies “solemnly protested before
God that they wished to live and die in obedience to the King, their
legitimate and natural prince.” Rohan hoped, by the example of these
towns, to draw the rest of the Reformed Churches into the struggle; but
in this he was disappointed, as most of them condemned his action and
decided to stand aloof.
Having landed the remainder of his troops, with the artillery and
stores, an operation which was conducted in so leisurely a manner that
it occupied several days, Buckingham advanced upon Saint-Martin,
occupied the town without opposition, and proceeded to reconnoitre the
citadel, a recently-constructed fortress of considerable strength
crowning a steep rock above the town. He would have well been advised
had he begun by the reduction of La. Prée, a small fortress to the
south-east of Saint-Martin, but this he neglected to do. It was an
omission which he subsequently had good reason to regret.
Buckingham and his officers at first believed that in a short time they
would be able to reduce Saint-Martin; but ere many days had passed they
were of a different opinion. The place was strongly garrisoned and
vigorously defended, while the surrounding soil was rocky and ill-suited
for siege operations. They were therefore obliged to convert the siege
into a blockade, with the object of starving the garrison out; and,
since it was recognised that it would be very difficult to effect this
in the face of the threatened succour from the French army gathering on
the mainland, unless reinforcements and stores could soon arrive from
England, Becher was sent home to explain the situation and press for
their despatch.
By the middle of August the works surrounding Saint-Martin had been
completed. On the side of the sea, the approach to the fort was guarded
by the English ships, disposed in the form of a half-moon, and by about
a score of well-armed shallops, which at night lay close under the
citadel. Buckingham had also devised an additional means of
strengthening the blockade by throwing a boom across the waterway made
of great masts, supported at the end by small boats.
For some time those about the person of Louis XIII did not venture to
break the news of Buckingham’s descent upon Ré to the sick monarch, from
fear of aggravating his malady, and, when they did so, they minimised
the importance of the affair as much as possible. _Monsieur_ was
impatient to go to the army and was bitterly incensed against Richelieu,
who declined to advise the King to let him do so, until his Majesty was
convalescent. When, however, the King grew better, he accorded
_Monsieur_ the permission he desired; but scarcely had he departed than
Louis, “jealous of the glory which his brother might acquire,” sent a
messenger after him to recall him. Finally, however, at the intercession
of the Queen-Mother, he was allowed to continue his journey.
Although a small band of ardent spirits had made their way from La
Rochelle to Ré and joined Buckingham, the authorities of the town had
not yet accepted the English alliance, and still remained nominally
loyal to their sovereign. As a precautionary measure, however,
_Monsieur_ and Angoulême had already invested La Rochelle, on its
southern side, their headquarters being at Aytré--often written Nétré by
contemporary writers--about a league from the town.
Towards the end of August, Louis XIII was sufficiently recovered to
remove to Saint-Germain. He had declared his intention of joining the
army and personally superintending the measures being taken for the
relief of Saint-Martin so soon as he was strong enough to mount his
horse, and, in the second week of September, he sent for Bassompierre
and told him to prepare to accompany him to La Rochelle in five days’
time. Bassompierre inquired “in what quality his Majesty was pleased
that he should accompany him.” The King replied that he would, of
course, do so as his lieutenant-general, upon which Bassompierre pointed
out that the Duc d’Angoulême occupied that position, and that, since the
army, when the King was present, had never yet been commanded except by
marshals of France, “he begged him very humbly not to take him there to
put an affront upon his office.” Louis declared that Angoulême’s command
was but a temporary one, and that he intended to send him an order to
retire; but Bassompierre, who knew how easily Richelieu could persuade
the King to go back on his word, asked if the King would direct the
Cardinal to give him an assurance that the prince should not continue in
the command, since his Eminence, having advised the appointment, might
wish to retain him. This Louis promised, and, a day or two later, gave
the marshal the assurance he desired.
The King left Saint-Germain on September 17 and travelled by easy stages
towards the West. Bassompierre remained in Paris until the end of the
month, when he received a message from Louis telling him to follow him
as quickly as possible. He set out at once and joined the King and the
Cardinal at the Château of Saumery, near Blois. They both received him
most cordially and told him that the King had sent orders to Angoulême
to leave the army and join his Majesty at Saumur.
Although obliged to remain near the person of the King, Richelieu had
practically assumed the direction of the military operations. All his
efforts were at present directed towards the re-victualling of
Saint-Martin-de-Ré, the situation of which was rapidly becoming
desperate. His ecclesiastical lieutenants, the Bishops of Maillezais and
Mende, the Abbé de Marsillac and Père Placide de Brémond, a Benedictine
monk, who entitled himself the “Knight of the Crusade,” hurried from one
harbour to another along the coast, assembling shallops and
flat-bottomed boats, arming them, loading them with stores, and
despatching them towards Ré. “I swear to you,” wrote the Cardinal to his
brother-in-law, the Marquis de Brézé, “that I would as lief die as see
M. de Toiras perish from want of provisions.”
At Langeais, where the King arrived on October 4, he received news from
_Monsieur_ that the garrison of Saint-Martin was reduced to such
straits[108] that it was impossible for them to hold out for more than
another week. Louis, in great distress, thereupon proceeded to the
church of Notre-Dame-des-Ardilliers, which belonged to the Oratorians,
and was held in great veneration in all the country round, to offer up
prayers for the relief of his brave soldiers.
On the following day they arrived at Saumur, where, to the great
satisfaction of Bassompierre, the King informed Angoulême, who had come
to meet him, that so soon as he (the King) reached La Rochelle, he would
have to resign his post of lieutenant-general and content himself with
that of Colonel of the Light Cavalry.
On the 8th Bassompierre left his Majesty to pay a visit to his friend
Bertrand d’Eschaux, Archbishop of Tours, at the Abbey of l’Hort de
Poitiers, but rejoined him next day at Niort, where good news awaited
him. On the night of the 7th-8th, a flotilla of thirty-five boats and
small vessels, laden with men and provisions which had been collected at
the Sables d’Olonne, had set out to make an attempt to run the blockade,
to the cry of “_Passer ou mourir_,” and, aided by the darkness of the
night and a strong north-west wind, the great majority of them had
succeeded in getting through the English fleet and in bringing to the
famished defenders of Saint-Martin-de-Ré a reinforcement of 400 men and
provisions for a month.
This success turned the tables on the besiegers, who were themselves
running short of food, while sickness was making such havoc in their
ranks that there were now only 5,000 men fit for duty. The French
forces, too, were gathering on the mainland, and an attempt to relieve
the fort might be expected at any moment. In these circumstances, it had
already been decided to raise the siege, when news arrived that an
expedition under Lord Holland, which Charles I had, after infinite
difficulties, at length succeeded in organising, was on the point of
sailing from Plymouth, while, at the same time, the Rochellois, after
two months of tergiversations, decided to throw in their lot with the
Protestants of the South and the English, and signed a treaty with
Buckingham.[109]
On the 11th Louis XIII reached Surgères, where he was met by his
brother, Angoulême, and Louis de Marillac. _Monsieur_ spoke to the King
in favour of Angoulême, and recommended that he should be allowed to
retain his command, and “M. d’ Angoulême recommended himself.” But the
King replied that he had appointed Bassompierre and Schomberg as
lieutenant-generals of his army and that he could not do anything to
their prejudice. However, as it was known that his Majesty
[Illustration: GEORGE VILLIERS, FIRST DUKE OF BUCKINGHAM.
After the picture by Gerard Honthorst in the National Portrait Gallery.
(Photo by Emery Walker).]
was seldom in the same mind for two days together, except when Richelieu
had made it up for him--and they believed that the Cardinal was none too
well disposed towards Bassompierre--Angoulême’s friends continued to
press his claims.
The following day the King took up his quarters at Aytré, _Monsieur_
having removed to the Château of Dompierre, to the north-east of La
Rochelle, on the road between that town and Niort, and, to the intense
mortification of Bassompierre, who had flattered himself that the matter
was settled, his first business was to hold a council to discuss the
position of Angoulême. The Council summoned the duke before it and
called upon him to state his case, when he declared that, having served
the King faithfully as lieutenant-general for three months, he would
regard it as an affront if he were called upon to resign in favour of
the Maréchaux de Bassompierre and de Schomberg, who, while he had been
enduring all the toils and hardships of active service, had been passing
their time agreeably in Paris; that he could see no reason why he should
not be associated with them in the command, unless it were the enmity
which the Maréchal de Bassompierre bore him, because he happened to be
the half-brother of Mlle. d’Entragues, and that he did not believe that
the Maréchal de Schomberg would make any difficulty were it not that he
was instigated thereto by his colleague. And he cited various precedents
to show that marshals of France had several times served under Princes
of the Blood.
Angoulême then withdrew, and the King sent for Bassompierre and
Schomberg, who had been waiting in an adjoining room, and Richelieu
having read to them the substance of the duke’s speech, invited them to
reply. Bassompierre, as the senior of the two marshals, thereupon rose
and harangued the Council at great length--his speech occupies several
pages of his _Mémoires_--maintaining that his Majesty had repeatedly
assured him that M. Angoulême’s command was to be but a temporary one
and that he would be removed so soon as the King joined the army; that
it was contrary to all precedent for anyone but marshals of France to
command, or to be associated in the command of, an army when the
Sovereign was present, and that, though it was certainly true, as M.
d’Angoulême had stated, that marshals had served under Princes of the
Blood, they had never done so when the King had been with the army.
Finally, he declared that rather than acquiesce in so great a
degradation of his office, he would prefer to lay down the bâton which
the King had given him and return to Paris, “to live the life of a
citizen, while awaiting the honour of his Majesty’s commands to serve
him in some other capacity.”
It is a singular illustration of the morals of the time to find
Bassompierre, in the course of this speech, making the following
reference to his former relations with Marie d’Entragues:--
“He [Angoulême] has done very wrong to say that I wish him ill on
account of his sister. That would be, on the contrary, a reason why
I should wish him well. I seek with too much care the affection of
the relatives of the ladies with whom I am in love. I might have
wished him ill if he had done to my sister what I have done to his;
but he does not practise the same thing on others, from fear of
having too many enemies on his hands.”
Schomberg followed in much the same strain as his colleague, after which
the two marshals withdrew and went to inspect the Fort d’Orléans, a
partially-finished work which Angoulême had erected near the point of
Coreilles, to the south-east of La Rochelle. On their return to Aytré
the King inquired of Bassompierre what he thought of Fort d’Orléans. The
marshal replied that it was “a useless work, situated in the most
unsuitable spot that could have been chosen in all Coreilles, three
times as large as was necessary, badly constructed, a great expense,
and of little profit, built not according to the rules which ought to be
observed in constructing a fort intended only to serve during a siege,
but as a permanent work, and, in short, defective as a whole and in
every part.” The King then told him that he spoke thus out of
professional jealousy, and that, if he himself had caused this fort to
be constructed, he would find as many reasons to praise it as he now
found to condemn it. Bassompierre retorted that he was not so foolish as
to condemn a work which the King could go and judge of himself, and that
he saw clearly that his Majesty had changed his mind and intended to
support the pretensions of M. d’Angoulême. The King replied that he had
not changed his mind, but that he would be very pleased if the marshal
could accommodate himself to an arrangement which would be for the good
of his service.
That night Angoulême sent two of his friends, Louis de Marillac and the
Marquis de Vignolles, to Schomberg to endeavour to persuade him to
accept the prince as his colleague in the command of the army. If we are
to believe Bassompierre, they pointed out to Schomberg that if
Bassompierre were to carry out his threat to retire, he would have all
the power in the army, since Angoulême pretended only to the rank of
lieutenant-general and would never dream of disputing his authority,
whereas, if Bassompierre, who was the second marshal of France, a
favourite of the King, and very popular with officers and soldiers
alike, were to remain, he would occupy a subordinate position; and that,
by these insidious arguments, they succeeded in so inflaming the
marshal’s ambition that, regardless alike of his honour, the dignity of
his office, and the claims of friendship, he consented to what they
proposed.
However that may be, next morning Schomberg went to the King and
informed him that he was prepared to accept Angoulême as his colleague
in the lieutenancy-general of the army, since he was already established
in that post, adding that he considered that Bassompierre had been very
ill-advised to contest the point so warmly.
An hour or two later, when Bassompierre went to the King’s quarters to
accompany him to Le Plomb, some two leagues to the north of La Rochelle,
where a fine view of the English fleet and Saint-Martin-de-Ré was
obtainable, his Majesty received him very coldly and avoided speaking to
him; and he learned that Louis had complained to _Monsieur_, the
Cardinal, and others that his obstinacy was hindering the operations of
the army. Before they left Aytré, Du Hallier came up to Bassompierre and
told him that he had been sent by the King to persuade him to be
reconciled to M. d’Angoulême. This the marshal refused to hear of, and
told Du Hallier that it was his intention to retire from the army two
days later.
On the way to Le Plomb, Richelieu also spoke to the marshal on the
subject, and then Schomberg rode up, and counselled him to yield to the
King’s wishes, “like a good courtier.” Upon which Bassompierre angrily
declared that “though his King and his master might abandon him, his
friends betray him, and his colleague, united to him by the same
interest, leave him, he would not abandon or betray himself,” and that
he (Schomberg) might, if it pleased him, remain with infamy, but, for
himself, he preferred to retire with honour.
On the following day Bassompierre learned that the King had directed
_Monsieur_, the titular general of the Royal army, to inform the two
marshals that he had decided that the Duc d’Angoulême was to serve
conjointly with them. Bassompierre declared that he absolutely refused
to be associated with M. d’Angoulême, and next morning the disgruntled
veteran presented himself before the King and addressed his Majesty as
follows:--
“Sire, in order to avoid doing anything unworthy of myself, and
which might do injury to the office of marshal of France, with
which you have honoured me, I am obliged, with an extreme regret,
to retire from your army and to beg your Majesty very humbly to
permit me to leave it. I am going to Paris to wait until the honour
of your commands summons me to some place where I may be able to
continue the same very humble services which I have performed in
the past, demanding meanwhile, as a special favour, that you will
not give credence to the evil reports which my enemies will spread
abroad concerning me, until you have proved them to be true. For
myself, I shall assure you that I shall be in the future what I
have been in the past, to wit, your very humble and very faithful
creature.”
Louis XIII must have had some little difficulty in preserving his
gravity during this grandiloquent oration. He had, however, not the
least intention of dispensing with the marshal’s military services,
which he valued highly, and he knew that his retirement would create an
exceedingly bad impression in the army, where he enjoyed great
popularity. He was, besides, attached to Bassompierre, so far as his
cold nature permitted him to be attached to anyone, and his lively
company would contribute not a little to relieve the monotony of the
long and tedious siege upon which he was about to enter. He therefore
endeavoured to persuade him to remain and accept Angoulême as his
colleague, and then, “perceiving that he was unable to conquer him,”
bade him adieu, after having first made him promise that he would go and
see the Cardinal. He then sent one of his gentlemen to Richelieu with
instructions to induce Bassompierre to remain at any cost.
When the marshal arrived at Richelieu’s quarters, the Cardinal received
him with a great display of affection and “even shed tears,” after which
he begged him to name the terms on which he would consent to continue to
give his Majesty the benefit of his military services. Bassompierre
replied that under no consideration would he prejudice the dignity of
his office by being associated with Angoulême, but that if he were
willing to give him a separate army, quite distinct from that of the
King, with his own artillery, commissariat and so forth, to besiege La
Rochelle on the other side of the canal, he would remain. The Cardinal
embraced him, assured him that he would give him all he demanded, and
asked him to name the troops of which he desired his force to be
composed; and the same day he was appointed to the command of an army,
composed of three companies of the Swiss Guards, the Navarre Regiment,
and five other regiments, _Monsieur’s_ company of gensdarmes and six
companies of light cavalry, together with the garrison of Fort Louis.
His headquarters were to be at Laleu, a village situated about a league
and a half to the north-west of La Rochelle.
This arrangement, so far as Bassompierre was concerned, was a very
satisfactory termination to the dispute; but, by accepting a separate
command, he lost a far greater opportunity for military distinction than
had yet come his way. For the task of relieving Saint-Martin-de-Ré and
driving Buckingham from the island was entrusted by the King to
Schomberg, whereas if Bassompierre had consented to serve as
lieutenant-general, it would certainly have been given to him, as the
senior of the two marshals. It was a heavy price to pay for the
gratification of his _amour-propre_.
Bassompierre established himself at Laleu on October 23, where three
days later he held a review of his army, several hundred men from which
were subsequently detached to go with Schomberg to the Île de Ré. At the
beginning of November, while returning from a visit to the King at
Aytré, he fell into an ambuscade which the Rochellois had laid for his
benefit. His usual good fortune, however, did not desert him and he
succeeded in effecting his escape.
A day or two later news arrived of the death of the Maréchal de
Thémines, who had succeeded the imprisoned Duc de Vendôme as Governor
of Brittany. The King offered the vacant post to Bassompierre, but,
though this most important and lucrative office, which until the
disgrace of Vendôme had generally been reserved for a Prince of the
Blood, might well have tempted him, the marshal refused it. “I told
him,” he says, “that I rendered very humble thanks for the honour which
he did me in deeming me worthy of it, but that, for my part, I did not
desire these great governments, which obliged me to reside there,
because they were not suited to my disposition and would divert me from
the course of my fortune.”
* * * * *
Meantime, the situation of Buckingham’s army in the Île de Ré was
becoming every day more difficult and perilous. It is true that since
the treaty which the duke had signed with La Rochelle, a great number of
their sick and wounded had been admitted to that town, and they were
better provided with provisions; but the weather was cold and wet, and
the troops suffered severely in consequence. What was worse was that by
October 20 more than 2,000 French troops had succeeded in getting across
to the island from the mainland, and had been received within the walls
of Fort La Prée and the entrenchments which had been thrown up in front
of it, and their numbers might be expected to increase every day.
Everything now depended upon the arrival of Holland. If he arrived
before the French in the island were sufficiently numerous to take the
offensive, and Buckingham succeeded meantime in preventing Saint-Martin
from being again revictualled, the place must fall, for by the second
week in November he calculated that the provisions of the garrison would
be exhausted. If, however, Holland’s arrival were delayed beyond the
first days of that month, he dared not, with his steadily dwindling
forces, take the risk of having to give battle to superior numbers and
would be obliged to abandon the enterprise.
Buckingham and his officers “blinded themselves with looking” for the
first signs of the coming of Holland’s fleet, but it came not. Endless
difficulties had to be surmounted before it was ready to start, for men
were hard to obtain and money still harder, and those charged with the
fitting out of the expedition were deficient in both capacity and
energy, though the King and Holland appear to have done their utmost to
spur them on. At last, on October 19, Holland, with part of the
expedition, sailed from Portsmouth, but was driven back to the coast by
a storm. For ten days the wind blew strongly from the South-West; then
on the 29th it changed, and the fleet again set sail, this time from
Plymouth. But in the night a violent westerly gale came on, and it was
again forced to return, with some of the ships severely damaged.
Before the end of the first week of November, Buckingham, obliged to
recognise that his position was fast becoming untenable, reluctantly
yielded to the counsels of those who urged him to raise the siege. He
could not, however, bring himself to abandon the prey which had been so
nearly his, without one last attempt to seize it; and learning that
Toiras had but 500 men left capable of bearing arms, he determined to
endeavour to carry the place by assault, notwithstanding that almost
from the first an assault had been regarded as a hopeless operation.
The attempt was made on the morning of November 6. The raw troops who
had landed in the island in July were by this time seasoned soldiers,
and they advanced to the attack gallantly enough. But Toiras had been
forewarned, probably owing to Buckingham’s want of reticence; and the
assailants were received with a murderous fire, while huge stones were
rained down upon them as they clambered up the rocky slope on which the
fortress stood. When they reached the walls, their scaling-ladders were
found to be too short; the troops from La Prée came out to threaten
their rear, and they were obliged to retreat with the loss of several
hundred men.
During the following night, Schomberg, who had been waiting his
opportunity for some days, sailed out of the Charente, evaded the
English fleet and disembarked at Sainte-Marie, in the south-east of Ré,
with his relieving army. Then, having been joined by the troops at La
Prée, at the head of over 6,000 men he advanced towards Saint-Martin.
Buckingham, however, had already raised the siege and retreated towards
the Île de Loix, a narrow tongue of land separated from the rest of Ré
by marshes and a canal, where he intended to re-embark.
On Schomberg’s arrival at Saint-Martin, Toiras at once proposed that he
should join him with all his men who were fit to take the field, and
that they should follow and attack the English at once, declaring that
the enemy was so demoralised and enfeebled by sickness that, in that
case, not one of them would escape. Louis de Marillac, who commanded
under Schomberg, strongly opposed this suggestion, and, though finally
it was decided to follow Toiras’s advice, so much time had been lost in
disputing that the greater part of Buckingham’s army had already gained
the Île de Loix. The rearguard, however, were still defiling across a
narrow wooden bridge which had been thrown across the marshes and the
canal which separated Ré from the Île de Loix; and the French generals
saw at a glance that, owing to the carelessness with which the
preparations for retreat had been made, these hapless troops were
entirely at their mercy.
An entrenchment had been constructed on the further side of the bridge,
but, by some blunder, the causeway which led to the bridge was quite
unguarded, except by a handful of cavalry. The French horse, who
outnumbered this detachment by nearly four to one, charged and routed
it, and the flying cavalry, galloping wildly towards the bridge, threw
the infantry into hopeless confusion. Almost simultaneously a body of
French infantry fell on the rear of the troops crossing the bridge, who
were, of course, unable to offer any effective resistance. It was a
massacre rather than a fight. Hundreds were killed, while a great
number fell from the bridge, which was unprotected by a parapet, and
were drowned. The troops who had been detached to guard the entrenchment
on the Île de Loix were at first borne away by the rout; but they soon
rallied and drove back the enemy, and when night fell were still in
possession. Next morning the bridge was destroyed, and the remnant of
Buckingham’s unfortunate army re-embarked without any interference from
the French.
The English losses in this lamentable affair have been variously stated,
but Bassompierre’s estimate of 1,200, which includes prisoners, is
probably well within the mark. What is certain is that, although on
October 20 6,884 men drew pay at Saint-Martin-de-Ré, only 2,989 were
landed at Portsmouth and Plymouth three weeks later.
More than forty English standards which had been captured were displayed
amid great rejoicings in Notre Dame on Christmas Day; and Paris saw in
it a proud victory over her rival, on that rival’s own element.