Volume II Part 9 (1/2)

[120] Louis, Cardinal de Gonzaga, was the last member of the Novellare branch of the ill.u.s.trious Italian house of Gonzaga, Dukes of Mantua, and was canonized in 1621 under the t.i.tle of St. Louis de Gonzaga.

[121] Ba.s.sompierre, _Mem_. p. 78.

[122] Siri, _Mem. Rec_. vol. ii. pp. 577-586.

[123] Ba.s.sompierre, _Mem_. p. 78.

[124] Francois Savary, Seigneur de Breves, had served as amba.s.sador both at Constantinople and Rome, and was a man of great erudition. Well versed in history, an able diplomatist, and possessed of considerable antiquarian lore, he had travelled in Greece, Asia Minor, and the Holy Land. His pupil, at the period of his appointment, being still a mere infant, he did not enter upon his official functions until 1615, when the young Prince was placed under his care, on the departure of the Court for Bordeaux to celebrate the marriage of Louis XIII with Anne of Austria.

[125] Richelieu, _Hist. de la Mere et du Fils_, vol. i. pp. 163, 164.

D'Estrees, _Mem_. p. 392.

[126] Le Va.s.sor, vol. i. pp. 88, 89.

[127] Le Va.s.sor, vol. i. pp. 89, 90. Richelieu, _Hist. de la Mere et du Fils_, vol. i. pp. 157, 158.

[128] Richelieu, _Hist. de la Mere et du Fils_, vol. i. pp. 160, 161.

D'Estrees, _Mem_. p. 393.

[129] Jacques de Brosse was the most renowned architect of his day, and left behind him more than one work calculated to justify his celebrity.

In addition to the Luxembourg Palace, which was built entirely according to his designs, he erected the magnificent portico of St. Gervais, the aqueduct of Arcueil, and the famous Protestant church of Charenton (destroyed in 1685).

[130] _Curiositez de Paris_, edit. Sangrain, Paris 1742, vol. ii. p. 37.

CHAPTER IV

1612

The Princes of the Blood retire from the Court--Increased influence of the Ducs de Guise and d'Epernon--Jealousy of Concini--The ministers desire the recall of the Princes--The Lent ballets--The government of Quilleboeuf is offered to the Comte de Soissons--The Princes are invited to return to the capital--Arrival of the Princes--M. de Soissons abandons Concini--An attempt is made to create dissension between M. de Soissons and the Prince de Conde--They again withdraw from Paris--The Regent resolves to announce publicly the approaching marriage of the King--Disaffection of the Princes--Frankness of the Duc de Guise--The Duc d'Epernon is recalled--The Duc de Bouillon is despatched to England--The Council discuss the alliance with Spain--The Princes return to the capital--Undignified deportment of the Prince de Conde-- Insolence of M. de Soissons--Indignation of the Regent--The young Duc de Mayenne is appointed amba.s.sador extraordinary to Spain--An unpleasant truth--Arrogance of the Spanish King--Concession of the Regent--Death of the Duke of Mantua--The Chancellor announces the King's marriage--An amba.s.sador and a quasi-Queen--Disappointment of the Princes--They again withdraw--Caution of the Duc de Montmorency to the Regent--She disregards the warning--Love of Marie de Medicis for magnificence and display--Courtly entertainments--The circle of Madame--The Marquise d'Ancre--A carousal--Splendid festivities--Arrival of the Spanish envoys--The Chevalier de Guise--Alarm of Concini--The Queen and her foster-sister--Concini resolves to espouse the party of the Princes--The Duc de Bouillon endeavours to injure the Duc de Rohan in the estimation of James I--Reply of the English monarch--Bouillon returns to Paris--The Marechal de Lesdiguieres retires from the Court--The Duc de Vendome solicits the royal permission to preside over the States of Brittany--Is refused by the Regent--Challenges his subst.i.tute--And is exiled to Anet--Concini augments the disaffection of the Princes--The Duke of Savoy joins the cabal--Lesdiguieres prepares to march a body of troops against the capital--Concini deters the Regent from giving the government of Quilleboeuf to the Comte de Soissons--Indignation of the Duc de Guise--He reveals the treachery of Concini to the Princes--All the great n.o.bles join the faction of M. de Conde with the exception of the Duc d'Epernon--The Duc de Bellegarde is accused of sorcery--Quarrel between the Comte de Soissons and the Marechal de Fervaques--Marie de Medicis resolves to persecute the Protestants--Bouillon endeavours to effect the disgrace of the Duc de Rohan--The Regent refuses to listen to his justification--He takes possession of St. Jean d'Angely--Anger of the Queen--Conflicting manifestoes--M. de Rohan prepares to resist the royal troops--The ministers advise a negotiation, which proves successful--Departure of the Duc de Mayenne for Madrid--Arrival of the Duque de Pastrano--His brilliant reception in France--His magnificent retinue--His first audience of Louis XIII--The Cardinals--Puerility of the Princes--Reception of the Spanish Amba.s.sador by Madame--_The year of magnificence_--Splendour of the Court of Spain--Signature of the marriage articles--Honours shown to M. de Mayenne at Madrid--The Spanish Princess and her Duenna--The Duke of Savoy demands the hand of Madame Christine for his son--Marie desires to unite her to the Prince of Wales--Death of Prince Henry of England--Death of the Comte de Soissons--The Prince de Conti claims the government of Dauphiny--The Comte d'Auvergne is released from the Bastille, and resigns his government of Auvergne to M. de Conti--The Prince de Conde organizes a new faction--The Regent espouses his views--Alarm of the Guises--Recall of the Duc de Bellegarde--He refuses to appear at Court--The Baron de Luz is restored to favour--The Guises prepare to revenge his defection from their cause.

The Prince de Conde and the Comte de Soissons having withdrawn from the capital, MM. de Guise and d'Epernon found themselves once more the princ.i.p.al personages of the Court, but their triumph was nevertheless greatly moderated by the jealousy of Concini, who began to apprehend that their ceaseless efforts to gratify the wishes of the Queen, and to flatter her love of splendour and dissipation, might ultimately tend to weaken his own influence; while the ministers, on their side, aware that the negotiations then pending with Spain for the marriage of the King could not be readily concluded without their aid and concurrence, however they might deprecate their return from other causes, also felt the necessity of securing their co-operation, for which purpose it was essential that such measures should be adopted as might render this concession acceptable to the royal malcontents.[131]

While this subject was under consideration, and Lent rapidly approaching, the Queen, who, being still in slight mourning, could not, according to the established etiquette, hold any a.s.semblies in her own apartments, but who was unwilling to forego the customary amus.e.m.e.nts of the Carnival, desired the Duc de Guise, the Prince de Joinville, and M.

de Ba.s.sompierre to perform a ballet every Sunday, which they accordingly did, ”dividing,” says the latter, ”the expense between us.”

The first of these allegorical dances was executed in the apartments of the Princesse de Conti, where a supper was prepared for her Majesty with an exclusiveness uncommon at the time, and which created considerable disappointment in the Court circle. None but the Princes then resident in the capital, namely MM. de Guise, de Nevers, and de Reims, with a few chosen courtiers, were permitted to attend, while the number of ladies was equally limited.

The second took place in the apartments of the d.u.c.h.esse de Vendome, upon which occasion the banquet was offered to the Queen by Madame de Mercoeur; the third at the Hotel de Guise, where the Regent was entertained in the private _salon_ of the d.u.c.h.ess; and the fourth and last in the suite of rooms appropriated to Madame de Guercheville in the Louvre.[132]

”I took the liberty,” says Rambure, with his usual quaintness, ”of representing to the Regent that the people would murmur on witnessing b.a.l.l.s at Court while she was still in mourning, but she only laughed at me, and bade me dismiss such an idea from my thoughts; at which I was not at all pleased, from the respect that I entertained for the memory of his late Majesty.” [133]

These gaieties did not, however, serve to divert the thoughts of the ministers from their desire to recall the absent Princes of the Blood; and it was finally arranged that as M. de Soissons had been the original cause of their absence, owing to his indignation at the ill-success of his attempt to purchase the duchy of Alencon, it would be expedient to hold out to him a prospect of obtaining the government of Quilleboeuf.

It was accordingly decided that the Marquis d'Ancre, on the part of their Majesties, and M. de Villeroy on that of the ministers, should proceed to Nogent, where the Princes were then residing, and invite them to return to Court, with a full a.s.surance from all parties that they would there occupy the station befitting their exalted rank, and be received with the dignities and honours which were due to them as Princes of the Blood.

The mission of the two envoys proved successful; and on their arrival at Fontainebleau the uncle and nephew were welcomed with a warmth and magnificence which alike flattered their self-love and tended to inspire them with confidence. Nevertheless, M. de Soissons had no sooner discovered that the Marquis d'Ancre, who, when he had himself retired from the Court, had lost the favour of the Queen, was now the firm ally of the ministers, through whose good offices he had regained his former position, than he exhibited towards the Italian a haughtiness and avoidance which ere long terminated in an open rupture.

Fearful of incurring through the means of the Count the additional enmity of M. de Conde, Concini endeavoured to win over the Marquis de Coeuvres, and to effect through his interposition a reconciliation with the indignant Prince. To this solicitation M. de Coeuvres replied that in order to establish a good understanding between two persons whom he had already so strenuously sought to serve, he was willing and ready to forget his private wrongs; but when it was suggested to him that he should exert his influence to renew the proposed marriage without reference to the Queen-Regent, he declined to make any effort to induce M. de Soissons to adopt so onerous a course, alleging that he had already suffered sufficiently by his interference in a matter which had been productive of great annoyance and injury to the Prince, and that he would not again lend his a.s.sistance to the project until the Marquis d'Ancre and his wife pledged themselves to reconcile M. de Soissons with the ministers, to restore him to the favour of the Regent, and to obtain her sanction to the proposed alliance.