The life of Louis, prince of Condé, surnamed the Great

Preface

?3

The Life of Conde was originally written by the author in the French language, and without any view of publication. A very small number of copies of that work was printed in 1 842 for a circle of personal friends. Several persons, however, having since expressed a wish for its appearance p ^ 1Jir native tongue, the following translation, executed nvJ ^r the s iperintendence and revision of the author, is no y submitted to the public.

Chapter I

Conde's Ancestry — His Birth and Education — His Title as Duke d'Enghien — His Marriage to Claire Clemence de Maille — His first Campaigns — Death of Cardinal Kichelieu, the Prime Minister — Enghien is sent to command in Champagne and Picardy — His bold Designs— Death of Louis XIII. — Great Victory over the Spaniards at Rocroy — Remarks of Paul Louis Courier on Military Reputation — Siege and Reduction of Thionville — Close of the Campaign page 1

Chapter II

The Duchess of Enghien is delivered of a Son — Enghien's Sister, the Duchess de Longueville — Her dissension with Madame de Montbazon — Enghien's Campaign in Germany — Three days' Battle of Fribourg — Campaign of 1645 — Battle of Nordlingen — Enghien's dangerous Illness — ■ Campaign of Flanders in 1646 — Death of the Prince of Conde, and succession of Enghien to that Title — Campaign of Catalonia in 1647 — Unsuccessful Siege of Lerida — Campaign of Flanders in 1648 — Great Victory at Lens • ••••••••• 26

Chapter III

Dissensions between 'the Court and the Parliament of Paris — Arrest of Blancmesnil and Broussel — Insurrection of the People — The Queen Regent yields — Conde arrives from Flanders — His Conferences with the Coadjutor, afterwards Cardinal de Retz — The Qupen Regent removes Louis XIV. from Paris — The War of the Fronde — Conduct of Conde in the Blockade of Paris — Defection of Turenne — Peace signed at Ruel . 51 vi CONTENTS.

Chapter IV

Growing Irritation between Conde and the Court — Designs of Mazarin — His Combination with the Frondeurs — Arrest of Conde and his Brothers — They are sent to the Donjon de Vincennes — Adventures of the Duchess of Longueville in Normandy — She embarks for Holland — The Princess of Conde and the Princess Dowager at Chantilly — Their Alarms and Anxieties ......... page 75

Chapter V

Lettre de Cachet against the Princess brought by Du Vouldy — Her courageous Resolution — Her Disguise of one of her Attendants — She escapes with her Son from Chantilly, cr~ S the Loire, and arrives at the Fortress of Montrond — Her Preparations for Defence — The Princess Dowager appears before the Parliament of Paris — The Princess combines a Civil War in Guyenne — She leaves Montrond — Joins the Army of the Dukes de Bouillon and de la Rochefoucauld — Her Residence at the Chateau de Turenne — Skirmish at Brive la Gaillarde • . • . .103

Chapter VI

The Princess descends the Dordogne — Action at Monclar — Popular rising at Bordeaux in her favour — She enters the City — She induces the Parliament to espouse her cause — Her able and intrepid conduct — Negotiations with Spain — Arrival of Don Joseph Ozorio at Bordeaux — Sanguinary Insurrection repressed by the Princess — Les Jurats — Siege of Bordeaux by the Queen Regent and the Royal Army — Attack of IS lie St George — Conde attempts to escape from Vincennes — He is transferred to the Chateau of Marcoussy 131

Chapter VII

Attack of le Palais Gallien — Action at la Porte Dijeaux — Growing desire for Peace — Negotiation concluded — Interview at Bourg between the Princess and the Queen Regent — The Court enters Bordeaux — The Princess retires to her Father's house of Milly — Her reception at Valencay, and at Montrond— Conde conveyed from Marcoussy to the citadel of Havre— Death of his Mother — Steps taken in the Parliament of Paris towards his liberation — CJaange of Affairs — The Queen Regent detained as a captive — Mazarin a fugitive at the head of three hundred horse — His interview with Conde at Havre — Conde and his brothers set free . 157

CONTENTS. vii

Chapter VIII

Conde arrives at Paris — Arrival of the Princess from Montrond — Power of the House of Conde at this period — Erroneous Policy of the Prince — Fresh dissensions with the Court — He retires to St. Maur, and to Montrond — Renewal of the Civil War — Conde at Bordeaux — His campaign on the Charente — Return of Mazarin to France — Military movements on the Loire — Mademoiselle de Montpensier at Orleans — Her Courtship by Charles II. of England — Victory of Turenne at Jargeau . page 185

Chapter IX

Secret departure of Conde from Gasc p v j— He traverses the centre of France in disguise — Adventures on the journey?— His sudden appearance at his army of the Loire — The action of Gien decided by his presence — Firmness of Turenne in retrieving the day — Conde proceeds to Paris — His treaty with Spain — His altercations with the Parliament — Siege of Etampes — Battle de la Porte St. Antoine at Paris — Conflagration and Massacre at the Hotel de Ville — Siege of Montrond — The place taken and demolished — Decline and fall of the Fronde — The Prince joins the Spaniards in Flanders 214

Chapter X

j

Conde's campaigns against France — Quarrel with his colleague the Conde de Fuensaldana — He takes Rocroy — Scene of his first and greatest victory revisited — The Princess of Conde maintains herself at Bordeaux — Her good conduct and popularity — The Bordelais yield, and the Princess embarks at Bordeaux — Her harsh treatment by the Prince — Siege of Arras raised by Turenne— Queen Christina of Sweden — Conde forces the French lines at Valenciennes — State of affairs at Madrid — Battle of the Downs, near Dunkirk — Peace of the Pyrenees — Conde reinstated in France 240

Chapter XI

First interview between Conde and Louis XIV. — Absolute power of Mazarin — His death at Vincennes — Retreat of Conde to Chantilly — His Son's marriage — Death of Anne of Austria — Mysterious event at the Hotel de Conde — Accusation against the Princess — Its validity examined — She is sent a prisoner to Chateauroux — Rabutin and Duval . • .261

CONTENTS.

Chapter XII

Visit of Louis XIV. at Chantilly — Tragic fate of Vatel — Conde takes part in the campaign of Holland — His Nephew the Duke de Longueville killed — Conde himself wounded — He returns to France — His campaign in 1674 against the Prince of Orange — Battle of Seneff — Conde commands on the Rhine after the death of Turenne — His final retirement at Chantilly — His affection for his Son — His taste for gardening — Embellishment of Chantilly — Illness of his daughter-in-law, the Duchess de Bourbon — Conde hastens to rejoin her at Fontainebleau — His own illness and death — His last injunction with respect to the Princess — She dies in Prison eight years after him — Her Grave rifled in 1793 — Conclusion . page 276

THE

LIFE OF CONDE.

Chapter I

Conde's Ancestry — His Birth and Education — His Title as Duke d'Enghien — His Marriage to Claire Clemence de Maille — His first Campaigns — Death of Cardinal Richelieu, the Prime Minister — Enghien is sent to command in Champagne and Picardy — His bold Designs — Death of Louis XIII. — Great Victory over the Spaniards at Rocroy — Remarks of Paul Louis Courier on Military Reputation— Siege and Reduction of Thionville — Close of the Campaign.

Anthony de Bourbon, King of Navarre, and father of Henry IV., had two brothers, Francis Count d'Enghien, and Louis, first Prince of Conde. These titles, rather Flemish than French, had been brought into their family by the marriage of their grandfather with Marie, Lady of Enghien and Conde, only daughter of Peter of Luxembourg. Francis Count d'Enghien, having scarcely attained his twenty -fifth year, gained the battle of Cerisoles over the Spaniards in 1544, but died in the following year from the fall of a chest, which crushed his head. His brother, the Prince of Conde, became one of the heads of Calvinism. He played a great part in the religious wars of France, and was killed, in 1569, at the bloody battle of Jarnac. His son Henry, the second Prince of Conde, became, at the age of seventeen, the head of his branch, and formed an intimate friendship with his first cousin the King of Navarre, afterwards Henry IV. Like him he was excommunicated by the Pope, Sixtus V. At the battle of Coutras, in 1587, he behaved himself " like a " good junior to King Henry," as he had promised him before the onset. The following year the young Prince ditSfcat St. Jean d'Angely, leaving his wife with child. She was delivered

B

LIFE OF CONDE. [chap. i.

of a son, who was Henry, third Prince of Conde\ In those rancorous times a false rumour was circulated of the illegitimacy of his birth, asserting that he was born thirteen months after the death of his father. But without having recourse to mental griefs — the effect of which has been sometimes alleged for similar delays, to the satisfaction of more than one respectable family* — there exist authentic documents to prove that the Prince Henry died on the 5th of March, and that Henry II. was born on the 1st of September of the same year.

The third Prince of Conde, unlike the example of his father and grandfather, was bred in the Roman Catholic faith. In 1609 he married Charlotte Margaret de Montmorency, the handsomest woman, it was said, in Europe. Unfortunately Henry IV., already nearly sixty, but still gay and amorous, did not see her with indifference ; and it was to be feared that a young woman of sixteen, not disinclined to coquetry, would be touched by the attentions of so great a King. The Prince, her husband, justly irritated, withdrew with her, first to one of his countryhouses in Picardy ; and observing that the King did not relax in his pursuit, he eloped, as it were, with his own wife. He set off on horseback, accompanied only by two servants, one of whom conveyed the Princess on a pillion, and the other one of her women, and the party arrived that same day at Landrecies, the first town in the Low Countries. f

Conde, however, soon separated himself from the Princess, who expressed regret at her flight, and was even at that time presenting a petition for her divorce to the Pope. It appears that she nattered herself with the hope that she could soon become Queen, as if another divorce could remove Mary de Medicis from the throne. But the death of the King in the following year entirely changed the aspect of affairs. Conde returned to France, and distinguished himself during the stormy minority of Louis XIII. To obtain grants of estates and money was his principal ambition ; for he had inherited very little. In

* The reader may remember the widow of Kegnard —

Le Legataire, Act III., Scene 8.

f Memoirs of Bassompierre, p. 42 1 ; and Sismondi, vol. xxii. p. 172,

1621.] HIS FATHER AND MOTHER. 3

1612, therefore, he acquired the town, the chateau, and the dependencies of Chateauroux. Later he had them raised to a ducal peerage, and later still he increased them by secularising several abbeys.* After a long series of Court intrigues and little civil wars, he had returned to Paris in 1616, and was paying his respects at the Louvre when the Queen Regent gave orders to the Marquis de Themines to arrest him. He was conveyed to the Bastille, and from thence to the Donjon of Vincennes. Up to this time he had never been reconciled to the Princess, and the trial for their divorce was proceeding ; but as soon as she found that he was unhappy, she generously devoted herself to his interests. The King having only given her permission to visit her husband on the condition that she also should remain a prisoner, and only leave the prison whenever he did, she consented to this with noble courage. Thus it was that in the Donjon of Vincennes a complete reconciliation took place between them, and the Princess there became the mother of two children, f After three years of imprisonment, another revolution at Court restored them to liberty, and even to favour.

In the ensuing years Conde several times commajided the King's armies in Picardy and on the frontiers of Spain, but always with more zeal than success. His favourite abode was at Bourges, in the centre of his domains of Berry and of the Bourbonnais, which he applied himself with care to increase. He did not, however, neglect to pay long and frequent visits to the Court, whenever he thought he saw any ray of hope to his obtaining new favours. Never did he allow an opportunity to escape him of either asking or taking. On this principle he profited by the punishment of his brother-in-law, the Duke de Montmorency (who was beheaded by order of Richelieu in 1632), in order to confiscate his estates. It was thus that the fine domains of Chantilly, Ecouen, and St. Maur came into the possession of the House of Conde.

The Prince and the Princess had three sons, whom they lost in their infancy. Their fourth was Louis, who received the title of Duke d'Enghien, and became afterwards the great Conde. He was born at Paris on the 7th of September, 1621. His constitution was frail and delicate ; he showed few signs of a long life,

* Boulainvilliers, State of France, vol. ii. p. 213, ed. 1727. t Memoirs of Pontchartrain, p. 237 ; and Sismondi, vol. xxii. p. 402.

B 2

LIFE OF CONDE. [chap. i.

and appeared likely to follow the example of his elder brothers ; but his father, uneasy at the losses he had already sustained, redoubled his care for the preservation of this last hope of his house. Soon after his birth he had him conveyed to Montrond, a strongly -fortified castle which he possessed in Berry, and whose lofty ruins still command the little town of St. Amand. There the young Duke not only enjoyed a purer and more salutary air, but was also secure from danger in case the Prince his father should fall again into disgrace at Court. From the same care of his health, his father, instead of selecting some lady of high rank for his governess, confided him to the care of skilful, experienced nurses. The young Prince was seen with pleasure to improve gradually in strength. Scarcely had he been set free from his swaddling-clothes ere he showed a quickness beyond his years ; and when he began first to speak, he displayed a singular degree of haughtiness, which resisted, as far as a child can resist, the orders of the women who had the charge of him. They did not find it an easy task to make him either go to bed, get up, or eat, at the hours which they considered right for him. He feared no one but his father, and when this latter was absent it was difficult to restrain him in anything. He soon acquired cunning enough to obtain by flattery whatever he wished to have ; and as he was always rewarded for the pains he took at his lessons, he hastened to learn all they wished to teach him to arrive at his own ends — namely, toys.

When he was of an age to be taken from the care of women, the Prince of Conde did not consult established custom, and confide him to the care of some great nobleman, but selected La Boussiere, a plain gentleman. According to the testimony of Lenet, a faithful servant of the House of Conde, of whom we shall hereafter often have occasion to speak, this tutor was a good, worthy man, faithful and well-intentioned, and who acted to the letter according to the instructions given him by the Prince of Conde. Joined to him in the education of the young Prince were two Jesuits — Father Pelletier and Father Goutier — the former very austere, the latter very gentle. Thus accompanied, the young Duke went to pursue his studies at Bourges. He lived in the finest house in the town, built by Jacques Coeur, the celebrated minister of finance to King: Charles VII. This house, a superb monument of ancient times, remains to this day.

1633.] HIS STUDIES AT BOURGES. 5

In a stone balustrade, carved in open work, may still be read the motto of Coeur in large characters : —

" k CCEUR VAILLANT RIEN IMPOSSIBLE." *

It is pleasing to think how often the eyes of the young hero must have rested upon these words, which only a few years later he confirmed by his actions.

At the time of which I am speaking, the house of Jacques Coeur was close to the Jesuits' College, where the Duke d'Enghien went every morning and evening, like the other students. The only distinction which was made between him and the rest was a balustrade which surrounded his chair ; and the heads of the college instructed him in concert with the Fathers who were his domestic teachers. He was made to recite and declaim. He always gained the first prize in his class, which generally happens to all princes, if the professors have only common good breeding ; but in the case of the great Conde, it may easily be believed that no unusual favour had been shown him. In his exercises as in his studies he surpassed all the young gentlemen who had the honour of being his companions. His father positively forbade that his young comrades should give up to him, either in his class or at play ; and when he was at Bourges he watched and directed himself the education of his son. He not only questioned him and examined his compositions, but he also made him dance before him (an accomplishment in which the young Prince excelled), and saw him play at tennis and at cards, to judge of his address and of his disposition.

At twelve years of age the Duke d'Enghien finished his course of philosophy, and sustained some public disputations at his college. His father, like a good courtier, made him dedicate liis first thesis to Cardinal de Eichelieu, and his second to the King. But amidst the talents which were every day developing themselves in .he young Enghien some traces were already to be found of that want of sensibility and of kindness of heart which subsequently tarnished the splendour of his glory. His father did not, however, spare blows to correct him. " One day," says Lenet, " I saw him cruelly whipped in the presence of Monsieur " le Prince, for having put out the eyes of a sparrow." f

* Guide Pittoresque en France, vol. iv. Dept. du Cher, p. 8.

t Lenef s Memoirs, vol. ii. p. 516, ed. 1729. The reader will perhaps re-

LIFE OF CONDE. [chap. i.

When the Prince was absent either at the Court or with his army, he exacted from his son a regular correspondence ; and, the better to judge of his progress, he had directed him, since he was eight years old, always to write to him in Latin. Some of these letters of the years 1635 and 1636 have been preserved ; they denote much respect and submission. After a summer passed at Montrond, he writes : " It is not without regret that " I left so agreeable a residence, where during a stay of three " months I never felt a moment of weariness. The fine season u and the beauty of advancing autumn invited me to prolong my " stay, but I must obey your orders, which shall always continue " through life to be my most endearing and sacred pleasure."* On another occasion he thus answers his economical father : "I " have kept, it is true, more dogs than my sporting required ; you " will forgive this fault in consideration of my first ardour for this " amusement ; but as soon as I received your letter I got rid of " all my dogs except the nine you allow me to keep. Thus " everything which you dislike becomes odious to me, and I " have nothing so near my heart as to obey your wishes."f

It was in 1638 that the Duke d'Enghien (or rather d'Anguien, according to the orthography of the times) appeared at Court. His family consisted of one sister and one brother : Anne Genevieve, born in 1619, and called until her marriage Mademoiselle de Bourbon ; Armand, who was born in 1629, and who received the title of Prince of Conti, from a little town near Amiens belonging to the Prince his father. It is not perhaps entirely useless to state that as first Prince of the Blood the Prince of Conde was generally called " Monsieur le Prince " only, as his eldest son was also known as " Monsieur le Due." We may also observe that none of these Princes ever signed themselves by their titles, but by their names ; as for example, our hero, either as Duke d'Enghien, or afterwards as Prince of Conde, always signed himself as " Louis de Bourbon,'' and his brother " Armand de Bourbon."

member the use so ably made of a similar anecdote by the author of 1 Zeluco.'

* Letter of the 1st November, 1635, translation from the Latin.

t Letter of the 2nd December, 1635. These letters are printed in the Historical Essay on the Great Conde, by his great grandson, Louis Joseph, Prince of Conde'. Lenet is the only person who furnishes us with any details as to the youth of the hero.

1639.] HIS FIRST APPEARANCE AT COURT. 7

When Enghien first made his appearance at Court they were celebrating with much pomp and joy fulness the birth of the Dauphin, afterwards Louis XIY. — the first fruits of a marriage which had lasted twenty years, but which had been hitherto childless. The young Duke was the principal ornament of these fetes. But at the same time many subjects for grave reflection suggested themselves to him. He saw the King, Louis XIII. , and the Queen, Anne of Austria, equally bending under the yoke of Cardinal Richelieu, that proud and stern statesman, who was hated but obeyed by his masters. While his Eminence was dispensing of his own free will favours and employments, sending all the orders, and receiving all the reports, the King, sullen and melancholy and with declining health, usually retired to St. Germain, and limited his occupations to the chase of foxes and badgers. The Queen, on her part, having long lost the affections of her husband, and having failed in several plots against the Cardinal, saw herself surrounded by spies and accusers, while her principal partisans were either prisoners in fortified castles or exiled to foreign Courts. Thus the great Minister, at the pinnacle of his power, saw the whole Court prostrate at his feet ; and amongst all these titled servants, there was none more submissive or supple than the old Prince of Conde.

Since 1635 war had been declared between France and Spain, and was proceeding, though faintly on both sides. The Prince of Conde having been named in 1639 commander-in-chief of the army in Roussillon, his son pressed vehemently for permission to accompany him as a volunteer. But the Prince of Conde, thinking him still too young and delicate for the wars, would only allow him to go and take the command of his government in Burgundy. Thus the Duke found himself initiated in the affairs of state before he was eighteen years of age ; and though, as may be supposed, the most important were not regulated by him, still his conduct did not fail to obtain for him the esteem and respect of his province. The din of arms which resounded throughout Europe, however, strongly affected his mind, and made him sigh for an opportunity of displaying his courage. So early as 1636 he had written to his father: " I read with " pleasure the heroic actions of our Kings in history. ... I feel a " holy ambition to imitate them, and follow in their track when

LIFE OF CONDE. [chap.

" my age and capacity shall have made me what you wish." Since that time he devoured all the works which related in any way to the art of war, and questioned all the officers who had acquired any reputation.

The following year his wishes were at last fulfilled. He obtained leave to make his first campaign in Flanders, under the Marechal de la Meilleraie. He saw the siege and taking of Arras — a siege which lasted two months — and during which he distinguished himself by the most brilliant valour.

On his return he went to pay a visit to Cardinal de Richelieu, at his country-house at Ruel. The Minister, already informed of his rising reputation, and wishing to judge of him himself, encouraged him to converse on many subjects. We are assured that he said afterwards to M. de Chavigni : "I have " just had a conversation of two hours with Monsieur le Due on " religion, war, politics, the interests of princes, and the adminis-* " tration of a state ; he will certainly be the greatest captain of " all Europe, and the first man of his time, and perhaps of all " future times — in all things."* But since it is only a panegyrist who acquaints us with these details, we may be permitted to suspect that this prophecy, like many others on great men, was but an afterthought.

However great was Richelieu's elevation, he could hardly flatter himself with the hope of an alliance with the Princes of the Blood ; they were willing to be his servants, but not his kinsmen. The thirst for places, however, which tormented the Prince of Conde, caused him at last to surmount the barriers of his rank. According to the Memoirs of Mademoiselle, daughter of Gaston Duke of Orleans, "the Minister saw Monsieur de " Conde ask of him, almost on his knees, his niece, and plead for " that object as eagerly as though he had in view for his son the " sovereign of the world. "f This niece was Claire Clemence de Maille Breze, daughter of the Marechal Duke de Breze, who was widower of a sister of Cardinal Richelieu. The House of Maille, though ancient and illustrious in Anjou, and having contributed to the Crusades one of its bravest champions, was

f Father Bergier, Memorable Actions, p. 204; Desormeaux's Histoire de Conde, vol. i. p. 43.

f Memoirs of Mademoiselle, vol. i. p. 53, ed. 1746.

1641.] HIS MARRIAGE.

yet not a suitable connection for the Royal Family of France. Notwithstanding, Monsieur le Prince wishing to express to the Minister an unbounded attachment, entreated him not only to give his niece to the Duke d'Enghien, but at the same time to marry Mademoiselle de Bourbon to his nephew, the young Duke de Breze. The Cardinal replied drily that he would willingly give gentlewomen to princes, but not gentlemen to princesses !

The Duke d'Enghien on his part expressed the strongest repugnance to this marriage. He resisted as far as possible ; but he was obliged to submit to his father, who was always thoroughly in earnest whenever it came to a question of pleasing men in power. The betrothing took place, therefore, on the 7th of February, 1641, in the King's closet, according to the custom of Princes of the Blood, and on the same day Monsieur le Prince gave a grand ball in the Cardinal's palace. But a slight accident somewhat disturbed the fete. Mademoiselle de Breze, who was very short (she was hardly thirteen years of age), fell as she was dancing a courante, in consequence of her having been made to wear a pair of high-heeled shoes, to give her stature — so high that she could hardly walk. No considerations of respect could prevent the company from laughing aloud, not even excepting the Duke d'Enghien, who was not sorry of an opportunity of showing his contempt for his wife. A few days after he fell so seriously ill, that his death was apprehended, and everybody (such goodnature is not uncommon) did not forget to attribute his illness to the grief which his marriage had caused him.

Claire Clemence de Maille by no means deserved such despair. Born in 1628,* she was yet a child, and Mademoiselle declares that two years after her marriage she still amused herself with dolls.f But we shall see by and bye what great and good qualities developed themselves in her mind, and we shall have cause to admire by turns her resignation in suffering, and her courage in action* She continued always of small stature, but was not wanting in personal attractions. According to a contemporary, who was by no means one of her friends, " she was far from plain ;

* Memoirs of Madame de Motteville, Table, vol. vi. p. 361, ed. 1782. t Memoirs of Mademoiselle, vol. i. p. 57, ed. 1746.

10 LIFE OF CONDE. [chat. i.

" she had beautiful eyes, a fine complexion, and a pretty figure. " She conversed agreeably whenever she chose to speak."*