Five fair sisters : an Italian episode at the court of Louis XIV

Front matter

CORNELL

UNIVERSITY

LIBRARY

Chapter I Errata

Page 43, last line. For " allotted to a suite " read " allotted a suite.' „ 391, line 28. For " 1690 " read " 1708." „ 392, line 9. For " 1690" read "1708."

— roiTv -xronnxjtiy — Lu Midic ins prosperity, iviaaame ae Motteville tells us that he was wont to declare that the beautiful Italian works of art with which his hotel was filled were the only relatives he desired to have with him.

The exception referred to was his younger brother, Michele Mazarini, a Jacobin monk at Rome, to further whose interests he did not hesitate to use the diplomacy and power of France, since, not content with appointing him Archbishop of Aix, he intimidated the Pope intd making him a cardinal. He soon had reason to regret his misplaced kindness. The new cardinal differed strangely from his brother. Giulio — or Jules, to give him the Gallicized form of his name — was

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

HORTENSE MANCINI, DUCHESSE DE MAZARIN Frontispiece {Phetogmvuye) From an engraving after the painting by Sir Peter Leiy.

TO FACE PAGE

CARDINAL MAZARIN 10

From an engraving after the painting by Mignard.

ARMAND DE BOURBON, FRINGE DE CONTI 38

From an engraving by Frosne.

"Trom an engraving ailertEie painting by Beaubrun.

LORENZO ONOFRIO COLONNA, PRINCIPE DI PALLIANO, GRAND

CONSTABLE OF THE KINGDOM, OF NAPLES .... 238 From an engraving after the drawing by Giacomo Bichi

MARIANNE MANCINI, DUCHESSE DE BOUILLON .... 354 From a contemporary print.

ARMAND DE LA PORTE, DUC DE MAZARIN ET DE LA MEILLERAYE . 268 From an engraving after the painting by Mignard.

MARIE MANCINI COLONNA, PRINCIPESSA DI PALLIANO . . 310

From the painting by Mignard.

CHARLES EMMANUEL II, DUKE OF SAVOY 330

From an engraving by G. Vallet.

MARIE LOUISE d'ORLEANS, QUEEN OF SPAIN .... 352

From an engraving by L. Armessin,

OLYMPE MANCINI, COMTESSE DE SOISSONS 384

From a contemporary print.

CHAPTER I

Mazarin and his family — Hostile criticism provoked by his promotion of his brother Michele — His sisters, Signora Martinozzi and Signora Mancini, and their children — The Cardinal determines to bring his nephews and nieces to France — Arrival of Anne-Marie Martinozzi and Laure, Olympe, and Paul Mancini — Their reception at Court — Prediction of Madame de Villeroi — Kindness of Anne of Austria to the little girls — Question of the relations between the Queen- Mother and Mazarin considered.

pHDR five years after he had succeeded Richelieu as chief Minister, in May 1643, Mazarin remained an isolated man. He had no relations in France, and, with a single exception, he brought none of his kinsfolk from Italy to share his prosperity. Madame de Motteville tells us that he was wont to declare that the beautiful Italian works of art with which his hotel was filled were the only relatives he desired to have with him.

The exception referred to was his younger brother, Michele Mazarini, a Jacobin monk at Rome, to further whose interests he did not hesitate to use the diplomacy and power of France, since, not content with appointing him Archbishop of Aix, he intimidated the Pope intd making him a cardinal. He soon had reason to regret his misplaced kindness. The new cardinal differed strangely from his brother. Giulio — or Jules, to give him the Gallicized form of his name — was

" afFable, insinuating, and a charming companion " ; ' Michele, rough, headstrong, and brutal. So far from being grateful for the favours bestowed upon him, he treated the all-powerful Minister with the utmost familiarity, and was accustomed to speak of him behind his bick with undisguised contempt. He had, indeed, respect for no one, hot even for the Queen- Mother, and in a short time contrived to render himself so generally detested that, in order to get rid of him, Mazarin sent him as Viceroy to Catalonia, an appointment which gave rise to much scandal. Michele, however, whether from incapacity or some other cause, only held the post a few months and then returned to Rome, where he soon afterwards died, a victim of debauchery, if Gui-Patin is to be believed.

Nothing which Mazarin had hitherto done had excited such hostile criticism as his efforts on behalf of this unworthy brother, and the failure of the experiment discouraged any desire on his part to bring the elder members of his family to France. But the younger members seemed possible elements of strength. Bsfore Mazarin left Rome, as the Pope's vice-legate to France, in 1634, he had established his two sisters in excellent marriages. The elder had married Girolamo Martinozzi ; the younger, Hieronyma by name, Lorenzo Mancini, a xvoman barbn. Of Martinozzi, little is known, save that he is said to have been of noble descent. But t'fte Mancini were undoubtedly an old family, who could trace their ancestry back to the fourteenth century, though whether they had ever been quite so illustrious as the Duchesse de Mazarin (Hortense Mancini) tells us in her " M^moires " is open to question.

1 Marechal de Gramont, " Memoires."

Signora Martinozzi, now a widow, had two daughters — ^Anne-Marie and Laure. Signora Mancini had been blessed with ten children, of whom eighth — three sons, Paul, Philippe, and Alphonse, and five daughters, Laure, Olympe, Marie, Hortense, and Marianne — were still living.^

In 1647, finding himself firmly established in the Queen-Mother's affections, and apparently firmly established in power, Mazarin resolved to make a fresh experiment towards transplanting his family to France, and accordingly demanded from Signora Martinozzi her eldest daughter, and from Signora Mancini two of her daughters, the eldest, and her son Paul. These children were from seven to thirteen years of age. Although invited to journey to a foreign land, to which their mothers were not bidden, there was no hesitation in sending them to the brilliant lot which awaited the adopted children and probable heirs of the great Minister, and in September they arrived at Fontainehleau, in charge of the Duchesse de Noailles, who had been despatched to Rome with a numerous suite to escort them to France, just as if they had been Princes and Princesses of the Blood.

"On II September (1647)," says Madame de Motteville, "we saw arrive from Italy three nieces of Cardinal Mazarin and a nephew. Two Mancini sisters and the nephew were the children of the youngest sister of his Eminence, the third niece was a Martinozzi, daughter of the Minister's eldest sister. The eldest of the little Mancini (Laure) was a pleasing brunette, with a handsome face, about twelve or thirteen years of age. The second, also a brunette (Olympe), had

1 We have adopted the Gallicized form of the Christian names of these children, as it is by them that they are known to fame.

a long face and pointed chin. Her eyes were small, but lively, and it might be expected that, when fifteen years of age, she would have some charm. According to the rules of beauty, it was impossible to grant her any, save that of having dimples in her cheeks. Mile. Martinozzi was blonde ; her features were beautiful, and she had much sweetness in her eyes ; and had we been astrologers enough to divine in her face the prospects of her fortune, as we did those of her beauty, we should have known that she was destined to high rank. The last two were of the same age ; we were told about nine or ten years old."

The little strangers were met at Fontainebleau by Madame de Nogent, who brought them to Paris and conducted them to Anne of Austria's apartments in the Palais-Royal. The Cardinal was with the Queen when they arrived, but he took scarcely any notice of his young relatives, and almost immediately retired to his own apartments, on the plea of fatigue.' The Queen,

1 Pending the completion of the Palais-Mazarin, in the Rue Neuve des Petits-Charaps, Mazarin occupied a suite of apartments in the bassearnr of the Palais-Royal, opening on to the Rue des Bons-Enfants, which enabled hini to have constant access to the Queen, whose apartments were situated in the right wing of the Cour des Proues, the only part of the Palais-Royal, it may be remarked, which still retains some traces of its primitive ornamentation. These apartments had been left in an unfinished state by Richelieu, but they had been completed by order of the Queen, who had added an oratory, a bath-room, and a gallery. It was in this gallery, which connected the apartments of the Queen with those of the Cardinal, that the meetings of the Council were usually held, and it was here that, on i8 January 1650, took place the arrest of the three princes — Cond6, Conti, and Longueville,

At the time when he became chief Minister, Mazarin occupied the Hotel de Cloves, situated in the Rue du Louvre, called also the Rue de rOratoire. This hotel, which was demolished in 1758, had been erected for Catherine de Cloves, widow of Henri, Due de Guise, assassinated at Blois in 1588. After the discovery of the Due de Beaufort 8 plot against his life, in September 1643, the Cardinal, feeling that he was no longer in security at the Hotel de Cteves, vacated it for however, greeted them very kindly, thought them pretty, "and all the time the children spent in her presence was employed in remarking on their appearance." After her Majesty had dismissed them, they were taken to the Cardinal, " who did not appear to care much for them ; on the contrary, he jested about those who were silly enough to show them attentions. But, despite this scorn, he certainly had great designs based on these little girls. His indifference about them was all pure comedy ; and by this we may judge that it is not only on the comic stage that good pieces are played."^

The following day, the nieces were again brought to the Queen, who received them as kindly as before, and " kept them some minutes near her to examine them." Their uncle was again present, but, as on the previous day, affected hardly to notice them. After this they were shown to the Court, and the time-serving courtiers, undeceived by the Cardinal's seeming indifference, crowded so eagerly round the new arrivals that there seemed some danger of them being suffocated by the press, and vied with one another in extolling their beauty, their charming manners, and their intelligence, "which they credited them with on sight." " See those little girls," remarked the wife of Mar^chal de Villeroi to Gaston d'Orl6ans, the King's uncle, *'who are now not rich ; they will soon have fine chateaux, large incomes, splendid jewels, beautiful silver, and perhaps great dignities. . . ." The mar^chale was a true prophet. It was evident that the first families

the apartments in the Palais-RoyaJ, or Palais-Cardinal as it was then called, which had been bequeathed by Richelieu to the late king, and whither the whole Court removed from the Louvre, a few weeks later, — Amedee Renee, " Les Nieces de Mazarin." ' Madame de Motteville, " Memoires."

of the realm would be ready to dispute the hand of the Cardinal's nieces, and that he would have only to choose amongst the wealthiest, the most powerful, and the most illustrious, to efface, by brilliant alliances, his own humble origin and establish his power on a sure foundation.

The three girls were at first installed at the Hotel de Clfeves, in charge of Madame de S6n6ce, formerly gouvernante to the young king ; while Paul Mancini was sent to be educated by the Jesuits at their college at Clermont, where he was allotted the room formerly occupied by the Prince de Conti, and treated in all respects as if he were a Prince of the Blood. Soon, at the instance of the Queen, the nieces were transferred to the Palais-Royal, to be brought up with Louis XIV and his younger brother, the little Due d'Anjou ; but the Queen herself instructed them in religion, frequently taking them with her to benefit by the saintly conversation of the nuns of Val-de-Gr4ce, and treating them with the same tenderness as her own children.

There is, perhaps, no stronger proof of Anne's devotion to Mazarin than the manner in which she occupied herself with these girls ; and here it may not be out of place to devote some little space to a question which, though it has been discussed ad nauseam by French writers, seems to us to have hardly received satisfactory treatment from English and American historians : the relations between the Queen-Mother and the Cardinal.

At the accession of Louis XIV (14 May 1643), Mazarin's position in France was a most precarious one. Surrounded as he was by powerful enemies eager to undo the work of Richelieu, and regarded by the bulk of the nation with dislike and suspicion, on account of his foreign birth, he quickly perceived that his sole chance of making head against the forces arrayed against him lay in securing the unequivocal favour of the Queen-Mother, and to this end all his energies were forthwith directed.

Anne of Austria had then just passed her fortieth year. She was very devout, but also very coquettish, in a romantic and strictly decorous way, attaching great importance to high-flown compliments, languishing looks, and delicate little attentions. Had Richelieu condescended to such means to conciliate her, it is possible that he might have gained as much influence over her as Mazarin subsequently enjoyed. But the great Cardinal was " -pidant en amour" to borrow the expression of Anne's confidante, Madame de Chevreuse, an unforgivable fault in her Majesty's eyes.

Mazarin profited by his predecessor's failure. He pretended to be madly in love, and yet overwhelmed by the sense of his own unworthiness. He had nothing, he said, but his devotion to plead for him ; he was more lowly than the grass before his goddess. His handsome face, his charming manners, the superiority of his intellect, his unswerving, devotion to her interests and those of her infant son, all combined to flatter the amour propre of the Queen. He succeeded, and succeeded beyond his most sanguine expectations.

Yet, his success was not immediate. He had to overcome not only indifference, but a feeling well-nigh amounting to aversion on the part of Anne, who had long regarded him merely as the creature of Richelieu, and for some weeks his fate trembled in the balance. His CametSj which reveal to us the inmost workings of this subtle mind, show that in the summer of 1643 he himself was doubtful as to the issue, for he complains of Anne's dissimulation, and that her entire confidence was not given him. By September, however, that distrust is dispelled. " I should no longer doubt," he writes, " since the Queen, in an excess of goodness, has told me that nothing can take from me the part which she has graciously given me."

What that part was has, as we have said elsewhere, been much debated. According to a curious anecdote, which Brienne relates in his " M6moires," Anne herself protested that the Cardinal's attraction for her was of a purely intellectual order.

One day, Madame de Brienne, the wife of the secretary, was in the Queen's oratory, when Anne entered, her beads in her hand, plunged in a profound reverie. " Let us pray together," said she ; " we shall be the better heard." As they rose from their devotions, Madame de Brienne craved permission to speak to the Queen, in regard to her Majesty's relations with the Cardinal. Anne consented, and was accordingly informed of all that malicious tongues were saying. The Queen blushed, and tears filled her eyes. " Why have you not told me this before ? " said she. " I confess that I am attached to him — I can even say tenderly ; but my affection does not go so far as love, or, if it does, I am not aware of it. My senses have no part ; only my mind is charmed by the beauty of his intellect. If this is wrong, I will renounce it before God and the saints. I will speak to him no more, save of the affairs of State, and check him when he speaks of anything else." Madame de Brienne then asked the Queen to swear on some relics of the saints which were in the oratory, that *' she would never abandon what she had promised God," a request with which her Majesty complied readily enough. «* God's goodness," said the pious confidante, " will soon make your innocence known."

"Anne, however, had taken oaths before," observes Mazarin's able American biographer, Mr. J. B. Perkins, "and the remembrance of Val-de-Grice makes us doubtful whether simple admiration for beauty of mind could have withstood the shock of circumstance and survived the lapse of years."*

However that may be, the tone of the Queen's letters to the Cardinal is strangely inconsistent with her protestations to Madame de Brienne. During Mazarin's second exile, in 1652, Anne concludes one of her letters to him with this passionate cry : " 1 5 [the Queen] is a thousand times ^ [yours] until the last sigh. Adieu, I can write no more, and he [Mazarin] knows why."" And again, some rhonths later, when the Cardinal was with the army, she writes : " I cannot but tell you that I think the sight of those one loves is not unpleasant, even if it be but for a few hours. I fear that your fondness for the army will be greater than all others. Still, I pray you to believe me that I shall be always what I should be, come what will."

The years bring no change in the warmth of these epistles. *'Your letter," she writes, in June, 1660, "#as given me great joy. If I had believed that one of my letters would have thus pleased you, I would have

* " France under Richelieu and Mazarin."

* In their prirate correspondence, the Queen and Mazarin employed certain signs or ciphers, of which the key exists. The numbers i6, zz, and Z4 indicate the Queen; the numbers 15, z6, and 46 indicate Mazarin. The Queen is likewise designated under the names of Seraphim and Ange, and Mazarin under those of le Ciel and la Mer. Frequently, in his letters, Mazarin speaks of himself as a third person, to deceive any one into whose hands the letters might fall. Finally, the curious signs ^ ^ indicate the affection or love of the Cardinal for the Queen and of the Queen for the Cardinal.

lo FIVE FAIR SISTERS

written it gladly. To see the pleasure with which it was received makes me recall another time, which indeed I do recall almost every minute. Though you may doubt it, if I could make you see my heart as well as what I say on this paper, you would be satisfied, or you would be the most ungrateful man in the world; and I do not believe you are that."

The letters of Mazarin are in the same tone. " Mon Dieu ! How happy should I be and you satisfied," he writes from BrUhl, in May 165 1, "if you could see my heart, or if I could write what is in it ! You would not find it difficult in that case, to agree that never was there a friendship approaching that which I entertain for you. I confess to you that I little imagined that it would go so far as to deprive me of all contentment, when my time is employed in anything else than in thinking of you."^

He knew the extent of his empire, did this astute Italian, and he exulted in reminding his royal conquest of it. " If you were nearer the sea [Mazarin], I believe that you would be more pleased. I trust that that will be soon."

It has frequently been claimed that the Queen and the Cardinal were secretly married. Such was the tradition preserved at the Palais-Royal, as the letters of the Duchesse d'Orl6ans, mother of the Regent, prove.' The same charge, too, is to be found in many of the pamphlets published during the Fronde, and has been accepted by more than one historian of weight, who argue that a woman of Anne's extravagant piety

1 For the rest of this letter, see p. 25 infra.

2 " The Queen-Mother, widow of Louis XIII, did more than love Cardinal Mazarin; she married him." — " Correspondanee complete de Madame, Duchesse d'Orleans," /«MV« par G. Brunei, 1855, II, p. 3.

From an engraving after the painting by Mignard

CARDINAL MAZAKIN

FIVE FAIR SISTERS u

would have recoiled with horror from any connection unsanctioned by Holy Church.

Those who hold this view, of course, start with the assumption that Mazarin was only in minor Orders, and therefore would have been free to marry had he been so disposed. This was certainly the opinion of his contemporaries, and the Abb6 de LafFmas, in a rhyming letter which he addressed to the Cardinal in 1 649, says : —

Aubery ("Histoire de Cardinal Mazarin") and Victor Cousin ("La Jeunesse de Mazarin) pronounce also for the negative, as does M. Ch^ruel (" Histoire de France pendant la minorite de Louis XIV"). On the other hand, Am6d6e Ren6e, in his " Nieces de Mazarin," and that indefatigable unraveller of historical mysteries M. Jules Loiseleur maintain that Mazarin was in full Orders. The latter writer's arguments are interesting.

"The minutes of the proceedings of the consistory of 16 December 1641," he writes, "preserved in the Vatican Archives, at which he (Mazarin) was preconised cardinal, qualifies him as cardinal of Saint Jean-de- Latran. No mention is made of his quality of priest, mention useless, in point of fact, and which would have been without any object, since his title of canon is spoken of, which supposes that quality. When an ecclesiastic is spoken of as canon or bishop, no one thinks of adding that he is a priest ; that goes without saying.

" Perhaps it may be objected that the kings of France were honorary canons of various churches, and that possibly Mazarin may have received the same honour. To this we reply that the minutes of the proceedings of the consistory do not speak of Mazarin as an honorary canon, but as an ordinary canon : canonicus Lateranensu. Further, Saint Jean-de-Latran is a Roman church, and only persons in Holy Orders were admitted to the canonicates of these kind of basilicas."^

These arguments seem sound enough, but M. Loiseleur was apparently unaware at the time when he wrote his book of the existence of a letter of the Cardinal which M. Chdruel cites in his " Histoire de France pendant la minority de Louis XIV." This letter, addressed to one of his confidants, Elphideo Benedetti, was written when Mazarin was in exile at BrUhl in 165 1, and had some thought of visiting Rome. "As for the difficulty created by the Bull which deals with those not in Orders, one ought," he writes, " especially to consider the deprivation of the right of voting in the Conclave, and, in regard to that, I should desire to know whether, in the event of my taking Holy Orders, I should have the right of voting without any other dispensation being necessary." This passage, in the opinion of M. Cheruel, is a conclusive proof that Mazarin was only a lay cardinal, and most people, we think, will be inclined to agree with him.

M. Loiseleur, however, is on much surer ground when he proceeds to argue that, whether Mazarin was a lay cardinal or a cardinal-priest, he would equally have been unable to contract a marriage without a special dispensation from the Pope, and that such a dispensation had never been granted, except on the condition of the intending Benedict resigning his membership of the Sacred College.

" M. Michelet," says he, « is correct in asserting that there are examples of cardinal-princes whom Rome has ' Probllmes historiques."

liscardinalized, when some great political necessity obliged them to marry. We do not think that many such examples may be cited, but there is one at least. It is that of Cardinal Jean Casimir, elected King of Poland in 1649, who was relieved of his vows by the Pope and married his brother's widow, Marie de Gonzague. But, before he married, Casimir V laid aside the purple ; he did not remain a cardinal. That is, in fact, the question, and we defy any one to cite a single cardinal, lay or not, whom Rome has permitted to marry and still to remain a cardinal. And Mazarin died a cardinal, for, in his last moments, the Nuncio Piccolomini administered the Indulgence in articulo mortiSy which the Popes are in the habit of according to members of the Sacred College."

M. Loiseleur then goes on to point out that, if the Holy See, in defiance of all ecclesiastical usage, had accorded Mazarin permission to marry and still to retain the external apparel of his former dignity, the dispensation must have been granted either by Urban VIII, who died 28 July 1644, or by Innocent X, who succeeded him and lived till 1655. But it could hardly have been by Urban, he says, for we know, from a report of Mazarin's secret police, that, towards the end of October 1643, three nuns of Val-de-Grke, intimate friends of the Queen, took upon themselves to send her Majesty a vigorously-worded remonstrance on the subject of her relations with the Cardinal, a remonstrance which would have been entirely purposeless, if, at this period, these relations had been legitimated by marriage. "Nor is that all. Certain notes of the Cardinal's fourth camet, which comprises the end of the year 1643 ^^'^ ^^^ beginning of 1644, and other notes of the fifth camef, which extends down to 28 August of the latter year, show us that about the time of the death of Urban VIII the convents were still inveighing against Mazarin, influenced principally by his scandalous relations with the Queen, a fact which is inexplicable, supposing that a dispensation had been granted by the Pope ; for the Queen, who had no secrets from her good friends of Val-de-Gr^ce, would not have failed to close their mouths by communicating to them the dispensation, if it had existed, and Pere Vincent,^ to whom was attributed the celebration of the marriage, would not have found himself included in the recriminations consigned to the famous earnets."

" As for Innocent X," continues M. Loiseleur, " he remained throughout his pontificate the bitter and persistent enemy of Mazarin, and no one in Europe was less likely to go out of his way to do the Cardinal a favour."

This would seem to us to render a marriage between the Cardinal and Anne of Austria extremely improbable, though it is just conceivable, as more than one writer has suggested, that Mazarin may have intimidated Innocent X, by the threat of the annexation of Avignon, into granting the necessary dispensation and also into maintaining silence in regard to it.

1 Saint- Vincent de Paul.

Chapter II

Begmning of the Fronde — The Cardinal sends his nieces to Val-de- Grace — His plans for their establishment — Declines the offer of Cardinal Barberini to marry his nephew to Laure Mancini — Looks with favour upon the Due de Candale — Arranges a marriage between Laure and the Due de Mercoeur— The Prince de Conde opposed to the match — Intrigues of the Marquis de Jarze to supplant the Cardinal in the affections of the Queen — His presumption punished by Anne of Austria — Mazarin insulted by Conde — Renewal of the civil war — The Cardinal leaves the kingdom — Exultation of his enemies — The Mazarinades — The cardinal's nieces follows him into exile — He establishes himself at Briihl — Marriage of the Due de Mercoeur and Laure Mancini — Mazarin continues to direct affairs in France — He raises an army and recrosses the frontier — His letter to the Queen — He joins their Majesties at Poitiers — Return of his nieces to Paris — Battle of the Faubourg Saint- Antoine and death of Paul Mancini — Hatred of the Parisians against Mazarin — His second exile — Tender letter of the Queen to the Cardinal — He is recalled to France — His triumphant return.

"DUT to return to the Mancini.

^ At the beginning of the year 1649, '^ivil war broke out — that curious medley of tragedy and burlesque known as the Fronde, and on 5 January the Court quitted Paris for Saint-Germain, while the Cardinal's nieces were confided to the care of the nuns of Val-de-Grice, August found Court and Cardinal once more at the Palais-Royal, the Treaty of Ruel having cleared the air for the time being. But Mazarin, perceiving that a second storm was brewing, judged it best to allow his nieces to remain in security. In the meanwhile, he had begun to busy himself with plans for their establishment in life ; plans in which, it is hardly necessary to observe, the happiness of the young ladies themselves counted for very little. The eldest of the Mancini sisters, Laure, was now fifteen, and suitors had already begun to present themselves. Cardinal Barberini had made overtures on behalf of his nephew, a Colonna,; but Mazarin demurred to this proposal and suggested in preference one of the younger girls, who was still at Rome in a convent ; for, wrote he, "your proposition would disarrange the plans I have made for establishing all the others in France." This Mancini offered as ■^pis-alkr was without doubt Marie, who was one day to become the wife of another Colonna. She was then at most ten years old, which fact, however, did not prevent her politic uncle from drawing up the articles of the marriage-contract.