The Life of Marie de Medicis Volume II Part 16

His hatred of Concini is as easily explained; it being merely the jealousy of a rival favourite. The Italian was to the mother of the King precisely what De Luynes was to the King himself; and as Marie possessed more power than her son, so also was her follower more richly recompensed. Still, however, the game was an unequal one, of which the chances were all in his own favour; for the Marechal was playing away the present, while his adversary was staking upon the future. The President Jeannin was also, as we have stated, especially distasteful to De Luynes, as he made no secret of his dissatisfaction at the frivolous existence of the young sovereign, and his desire that he should exchange the boyish diversions to which he was addicted for pursuits more worthy of his high station; while at the same time he exhibited towards the favourite an undisguised disdain which excited all the worst pa.s.sions of its object.

Thus, insignificant as he appeared to those who were basking in favour, and who esteemed themselves too highly to waste one thought upon the obsequious dependent of a youthful and wayward sovereign, who suffered himself to be guided by those about him as though reckless of the result of their conflicting ambitions, it will be readily understood that De Luynes was laying up a store of antipathies which required only time and opportunity to develop themselves, and to bear the most bitter fruits; and already did the active favourite begin to enjoy a foretaste of the coming harvest. Ever earnest for right, Louis XIII never exhibited any personal energy to secure it, and consequently could effect nothing of himself; readily prejudiced, alike by his own caprices and by the representations of others, his very anxiety to act as became a monarch rendered him vulnerable to the intrigues of those whose interests tended to mislead his judgment; and as De Luynes, while sharing in his superst.i.tious acts of overstrained devotion, or amusing his idleness by the futilities of falconry and other even less dignified sports, did not fail occasionally and cautiously to allude to more serious subjects, the boy-King listened eagerly to the recitals and opinions of his chosen friend, and finished by adopting all his views.

This fact soon became so obvious to Concini, that the wily Italian, who dreaded lest the day might not be far distant when the son of Marie de Medicis would shake off the yoke of her quasi-regency and a.s.sert his own prerogative, resolved to secure the good offices of De Luynes, and for this purpose he induced M. de Conde to restore to the King the government of Amboise; representing to the Prince the slight importance of such a possession to a person of his rank, and the conviction which its voluntary surrender must impress upon the ministers of his desire to strengthen the royal cause. Let it not be supposed, however, that, at the period of which we write, such a surrender could for a moment be effected gratuitously; and thus, when the first Prince of the Blood was at length induced to yield to the representations of his insidious adviser, the terms of the bargain were fully understood on both sides; but even when he had succeeded in obtaining the consent of M. de Conde himself to the arrangement, Concini had still to overcome the scruples of the Queen-mother, to whom he hastened to suggest that the vacant government should be bestowed upon Charles de Luynes.

As he had antic.i.p.ated, Marie de Medicis was startled by so extraordinary a proposition. De Luynes was a mere hanger-on of the Court; the companion of the boyish pleasures of her son; and without one claim to honour or advancement. But these very arguments strengthened the position of the Marechal. The poverty of the King's favourite secured, as he averred, his fidelity to those who might lay the foundations of his fortune; and if, as the astute Italian moreover cleverly remarked, De Luynes were in truth merely the playmate of the monarch, he possessed at least the merit of engrossing his thoughts, and of thus rendering him less desirous to control or to criticize the measures of others. Marie yielded to this argument; she had begun to love power for its own sake; and she could not disguise from herself that her future tenure of authority must depend solely upon the will of the young sovereign. In order, therefore, to secure to herself the good offices of one so influential with his royal master as De Luynes, she consented to follow the advice of Concini, who forthwith, in her name, remunerated M. de Conde for his secession by upwards of a hundred thousand crowns, and the grandson of Guillaume Segur became governor of the city and fortress of Amboise.[195]

FOOTNOTES:

[170] Emmanuel de Gondy, Due de Retz, and General of the Galleys, was the grandson of the celebrated Marechal Gilles de Laval, Baron de Retz, who, under Charles VII, greatly contributed to the expulsion of the English from France, but who subsequently suffered strangulation by a decree of the ecclesiastical tribunal of Nantes for his frightful debaucheries. He was the father of the well-known Cardinal de Retz, the enemy of Mazarin, and one of the heroes of the Fronde.

[171] Richelieu, _Hist. de la Mere et du Fils_, vol. i. pp. 247-254.

Mezeray, vol. xi. pp. 53-55.

[172] Ba.s.sompierre, _Mem_. pp. 94, 95.

[173] Henri de Chatiegnier de la Rocheposay.

[174] In 1598 Henri IV had marched against the Duc de Mercoeur, who still held part of Brittany; and as the Duke found himself, immediately on the appearance of the King, deserted by the n.o.bility of the duchy, he gave himself up for lost. Opposition was of course useless; and he was about to surrender to the royal troops upon the best terms which he could obtain, when he saved himself by a lucky expedient. He was aware of the violent pa.s.sion still felt by Henry for Gabrielle d'Estrees, and in order to escape the penalty of his rebellion he offered the hand of his only daughter, with the duchies of Estampes, Penthievre, and Mercoeur as her dowry, to the King's natural son Cesar de Vendome; a proposal which was at once accepted, as the monarch was aware that it would gratify the ambition of his mistress. Subsequently, however, after the death of her father, the family of Mademoiselle de Mercoeur had objected to the alliance, and it had required all the authority of Henry to compel its accomplishment.--Davila, _Hist. of Modern Europe_, London, 1794, book xv. vol. iii. p. 49.

[175] Richelieu, _Hist. de la Mere et du Fils_, vol. i. pp. 260-277.

Mezeray, vol. xi. pp. 55-67. Le Va.s.sor, vol. i. pp. 253-261. Brienne, _Mem_. vol. i. pp. 296, 297, edition Pet.i.tot.

[176] Louis de Ba.s.sompierre, who subsequently became Bishop of Saintes.

[177] Pet.i.tot, _Avertiss.e.m.e.nt sur M. de Ba.s.sompierre_.

[178] Le Va.s.sor, vol. i. p. 263.

[179] Nicolas de Verdun, First President of the Parliament of Paris, a devoted adherent of M. de Villeroy.

[180] Louis Servin, Councillor of State, Advocate-General of the Parliament of Paris, and one of the most able magistrates of his time, served with zeal and fidelity under Henri III, Henri IV, and Louis XIII.

He died suddenly, at the feet of the latter monarch, on the 19th of March 1626, while remonstrating with him in the name of the Parliament, where he was holding his Bed of Justice, against certain financial edicts. He was the author of several legal writings, orations, and sundry other works.

[181] Henri Auguste de Lomenie, Comte de Brienne, was the son of Antoine de Lomenie and of Anne d'Aubourg, and was born in 1594. In 1609 he attracted the attention of Henri IV, who occasionally admitted him to his councils, in order to familiarize him with public affairs; and Marie de Medicis continued, after the death of that monarch, to honour him with her regard. In 1617 he became Master of the Ceremonies and Provost of the King's Orders. In 1621 he followed Louis XIII to Languedoc, where he distinguished himself at the siege of Clerac; and in the following campaign he served under the Prince de Conde with equal credit. After struggling successfully throughout the long and stormy administration of Richelieu, he incurred the displeasure of Louis XIII a short time after the death of that minister, and disposed of his office as secretary of state; but during the regency of Anne of Austria he was recalled; and until Louis XIV undertook to govern the nation in his own person, he retained great influence in the Council. Age was, however, creeping upon him; and a short time subsequent to the marriage of that monarch, having attained his sixty-seventh year, he retired from the Government. He died in 1666.

[182] Pet.i.tot, _Notice sur le Comte de Brienne_, p. 278.

[183] This privilege rendered the financial and judicial offices hereditary, on the payment of an annual tax of one-tenth of the sum at which they had been originally purchased; and the n.o.bility were jealous of this hereditary tenure of the most lucrative civil appointments under the Crown, all of which were thus, as a natural consequence, engrossed by the _tiers-etat._ The _paulette_ owed its name to Charles Paulet, who was the inventor of this extraordinary source of revenue.

[184] _Tiers-etat,_ or middle state, was the name given to that portion of the French people who belonged neither to the aristocracy nor to the Church.

[185] Pierre de Roncherolles, Baron du Pont Saint-Pierre.

[186] Robert Miron, Provost of the Merchants, an able politician, whose zeal and talents were recompensed by the confidence and favour of Louis XIII, by whom he was, in 1625, entrusted with the emba.s.sy to Switzerland.

[187] Bonnechose, vol. i. pp. 451, 452. Mezeray, vol. xi. pp. 73-78. Le Va.s.sor, vol. i. pp. 298-302.

[188] Marville, _Melanges d'Histoire et de Litterature_.

[189] Nicolas Le Fevre was born at Paris, in 1544, and devoted himself to literature. Henri IV entrusted to him the education of the Prince de Conde; and he subsequently became, under Marie de Medicis, the preceptor of Louis XIII. He died in 1612.

[190] David de Rivault, Sieur de Flurance, was born at Laval in 1571, and died at Tours in 1616. He was the author of several works, which elicited the admiration of Malherbe and other distinguished writers.

[191] Guy, Comte de Laval, was the brother of the Duc de la Tremouille.

[192] Bernard, _Hist, de Louis XIII_, book i.

[193] Sismondi, _Hist. des Francais_, vol. xxii. p. 296.

[194] Bernard, book iv. _Additions aux Memoires de Castelnau_, book vi.

pp. 455-457. Richelieu, _Hist, de la Mere et du Fils_, vol. i. p. 284.

[195] Richelieu, _Hist, de la Mere et du Fils_, vol. i. pp. 284, 285.

CHAPTER VII

1615-16

Close of the States-General--The Bishop of Lucon--Declaration of the royal marriages--Ballet of Madame--State of the Court--Cabal of Concini--Death of Marguerite de Valois--Conde seeks to gain the Parliament--Distrust of Marie de Medicis--Conde leaves Paris--He refuses to accompany the King to Guienne--Perilous position of the Court party--The Marechal de Bois-Dauphin is appointed Commander-in-Chief--The Court proceed to Guienne--Illness of the Queen and Madame Elisabeth--The Court at Tours--Enforced inertness of M. de Bois-Dauphin--Conde is declared guilty of _lese-majeste_--He takes up arms--Murmurs of the royal generals--The Comte de St. Pol makes his submission--The Court reach Bordeaux--The royal marriages--Sufferings of the troops--Disaffection of the n.o.bility--Irritation of the Protestants--Pasquinades--Negotiation with the Princes--The Duc de Guise a.s.sumes the command of the royal army--Singular escape of Marie de Medicis--Disgrace of the Duc d'Epernon--He retires to his government--The Queen and the astrologer.

The a.s.sembly of the States-General occupied the commencement of the year 1615; and was closed on the 22nd of February, by their Majesties in person, with extreme pomp. When the King and his august mother had taken their seats, and the heralds had proclaimed silence, Armand Jean du Plessis, Bishop of Lucon,[196] presented to the sovereign the requisition of the clergy; and after a long harangue, in which he detailed their several demands, he entered into an animated eulogium of the administration of the Queen, exhorting his Majesty to continue to her the power of which she had so ably availed herself during his minority. He spoke fluently, but in a broken and uncertain voice, and with an apparent apathy, which, according to contemporaneous authors, gave no indication of the extraordinary talents that he subsequently displayed.

The States-General had no sooner closed than Marie de Medicis resolved to terminate the double alliance which had been concluded with Spain, and in honour of this event she determined that Madame, the promised bride of Philip, should appear in a ballet, which by the sumptuousness of its decorations, the beauty of its machinery, and the magnificence of its entire arrangements, should eclipse every entertainment of the kind hitherto exhibited at the French Court.

"It is necessary," she said, "that my daughter should give a public festival before her departure for Spain, and that the Parisians should remember a Princess who is about to be lost to France."

That the worthy citizens were on their part most anxious so to do, is evident from the testimony of Ba.s.sompierre, who states that the Court officials, being unprepared for so great a crowd as that which presented itself upon the occasion, had not taken proper precautions, and it was subsequently found necessary to postpone the amus.e.m.e.nt for some days, and to arrange that no one should enter the Salle de Bourbon without a ticket; which the Duc d'Epernon and himself were entrusted to receive.[197]

[Ill.u.s.tration: RICHELIEU.]

This entertainment was followed by another of a similar description at the Hotel de Conde; but although they affected to be equally engrossed by the festivities in which they shared, neither the Queen nor the Prince were so indifferent to their personal interests as they endeavoured to appear. Marie de Medicis was striving to discover some means of frustrating the cabals which were perpetually thwarting her designs, and threatening her authority, while M. de Conde was as eager as ever to undermine her power. The Marechal d'Ancre was intriguing to effect the disgrace of the ministers, particularly that of Villeroy, whose alliance he no longer coveted; and the great n.o.bles were busied in searching for some pretext sufficiently plausible to cause the ruin of the domineering favourite who presumed to treat them rather as inferiors than as equals. Thus the gilded surface of the Court concealed a ma.s.s of hatred, jealousy, and unrest, which threatened every instant to reveal itself, and to dispel an illusion as false as it was flattering: and while the foreign guests of the young monarch danced and feasted, and the native n.o.bility struggled to surpa.s.s them in magnificence and frivolity, the more thoughtful spectators of the glittering scene trembled at its instability, and every instant antic.i.p.ated an outbreak.

The attempt of Concini proved successful, and the deportment of Marie towards M. de Villeroy became so chilling that he withdrew from the Court, without seeking to ascertain the cause of his disgrace.

On the 27th of March the ex-Queen Marguerite breathed her last, but for some time previously she had appeared so seldom at Court that her death did not tend to disturb the gaieties of the royal circle, who had almost ceased to remember her existence. She had outlived even the reputation of her vices.

When the Prince de Conde and his faction demanded a meeting of the States they were far from antic.i.p.ating its results; the unanimous loyalty of the deputies having greatly subserved the interests of the Queen, and thus weakened their own position. Aware too late of the error which they had committed, they were consequently compelled to seek elsewhere for support, and it was at length decided that they should excite the disaffection of the Parliament, by representing that all the services which its members had rendered to Marie on her a.s.sumption of the regency had been repaid by ingrat.i.tude and neglect; and that they no longer commanded that authority in the Government to which they were justly ent.i.tled. Coupled with these insidious arguments were profuse offers of a.s.sistance to enable them to enforce their rights, and the object of the faction was at once gained; the ambition and the vanity of the Parliament being alike engaged in a question which involved their own influence and importance. Strong in the support of the Princes, they, however, overacted the part a.s.signed to them, and proceeded so arrogantly to remonstrate with the sovereign upon what they termed the abuses of the Government, that the King issued a decree in Council, by which he abrogated both their own decree and their remonstrances, declaring that they had exceeded the power accorded to them by the law; and commanding that those doc.u.ments should be cancelled, torn from the registers, and delivered to his Majesty on the receipt of the royal decree. The Parliament, however, expostulated, and although they were again commanded to deliver up the obnoxious records, they failed to obey; and thus, by their determination, overruled the will of the sovereign.

During this struggle for power the Prince de Conde had absented himself from Paris, in order to avert any suspicion of connivance; but previous experience had rendered the Queen distrustful of his movements, and she was consequently prepared to counteract his subsequent intrigues. The Council had, accordingly, no sooner annulled the decree of the Parliament, than she sent to forbid him, in the name of the King, from a.s.sisting in their deliberations; upon which the Prince availed himself of so specious a pretext for abandoning the Court, alleging that he no longer considered it safe to remain in the capital.[198]

In accordance with this declaration he left Paris by the Porte St.

Antoine, followed by the acclamations of the populace, who, weary of the rule of the Queen, and exasperated by the arrogance of her favourites, regarded M. de Conde as a victim, and thus rendered his retreat a new subject of anxiety to the Court party. Nor was their annoyance decreased when they ascertained that throughout his journey to Creil, where he possessed an estate on the banks of the Oise, he was met by numerous bodies of armed citizens from Senlis, Mantes, Beaumont, and other towns, and was accompanied by the Duc de Longueville and the n.o.bles attached to his cause. Within a league of Creil the harquebusiers were drawn up to receive him, with drums beating and colours flying, and thus escorted he finally entered the city.

On learning these circ.u.mstances Marie de Medicis became apprehensive that he might avail himself of so favourable an opportunity to raise an army, and enter into open rebellion against the Crown; and in order to avert this contingency, she lost no time in despatching a messenger who was instructed to invite him to return to Paris, and to accompany the Court in their approaching journey to Guienne. M. de Conde was, however, aware of the advantage which he had gained, and resolutely refused to retrace his steps until the King reformed the Council, replied to the remonstrances of the Parliament, and redressed the alleged wrongs of himself and his friends; demanding in his own name the presidency of the Council, and the ministry of finance which had been promised to him; while the Marechal de Bouillon, in his turn, asked as the price of his obedience the office of Connetable de France vacant by the death of the Duc de Montmorency.[199]

These demands not being conceded, the Prince de Conde refused to accompany the King to Guienne, an example which was followed by many of the high n.o.bility; and the faction became ere long so formidable that a civil war appeared inevitable.