the monarchy must cease to exist; and it seems as if that may
have taken place in order that the social progress, violently
arrested since the last reign, might resume its course at the
instigation of a kind of dictator, whose spirit was free from
the influences which the interest of family and dynasty
exercises over the characters of kings. By a strange
concurrence of circumstances, it happened that the weak
prince, whose destiny it was to lend his name to the reign of
the great minister, had in his character, his instincts, his
good or bad qualities, all that could supply the requirements
of such a post. Louis XIII., who had a mind without energy but
not without intelligence, could not live without a master; after
having possessed and lost many, he took and kept the one, who
he found was capable of conducting France to the point, which
he himself had a faint glimpse of, and to which he vaguely
aspired in his melancholy reveries. ... In his attempts at
innovation, Richelieu, as simple minister, much surpassed the
great king who had preceded him, in boldness. He undertook to
accelerate the movement towards civil unity and equality so
much, and to carry it so far, that hereafter it should be
impossible to recede. ... The work of Louis XI. had been
nearly lost in the depth of the troubles of the sixteenth
century; and that of Henry IV. was compromised by fifteen
years of disorder and weakness. To save it from perishing,
three things were necessary: that the high nobility should be
constrained to obedience to the king and to the law; that
Protestantism should cease to be an armed party in the State;
that France should be able to choose her allies freely in
behalf of her own interest and in that of European
independence. On this triple object the king-minister employed
his powerful intellect, his indefatigable activity, ardent
passions, and an heroic strength of mind. His daily life was a
desperate struggle against the nobles, the royal family, the
supreme courts, against all that existed of high institutions,
and corporations established in the country. For the purpose
of reducing all to the same level of submission and order, he
raised the royal power above the ties of family and the tie of
precedent; he isolated it in its sphere as a pure idea, the
living idea of the public safety and the national interest.
... He was as destitute of mercy as he was of fear, and
trampled under foot the respect due to judicial forms and
usages. He had sentences of death pronounced by commissioners
of his own selection: at the very foot of the throne he struck
the enemies of the public interest, and at the same time of
his own fortune, and confounded his personal hatreds with the
vengeance of the State. No one can say whether or not there
was deceit in that assurance of conscience which he manifested
in his last moments: God alone could look into the depth of
his mind. We who have gathered the fruit of his labours and of
his patriotic devotion at a distance of time--we can only bow,
before that man of revolution, by whom the ways which led to
our present state of society were prepared. But something sad
is still attached to his glory: he sacrificed everything to
the success of his undertaking; he stifled within himself and
crushed down in some noble spirits the eternal principles of
morality and humanity. When we look at the great things which
he achieved, we admire him with gratitude; we would, but we
cannot, love his character."
A. Thierry,
Formation and Progress of the Tiers État
or Third Estate in France, chapter 8.
ALSO IN:
V. Cousin,
Secret History of the French Court under
Richelieu and Mazarin,
chapters 3-4.
V. Cousin,
The Youth of Madame de Longueville.
Lord Mahon,
Life of Louis, Prince of Condé,
chapter 1.
Cardinal de Retz,
Memoirs,
books 1-2.
M'lle de Montpensier,
Memoirs,
chapter 2-3.
{1225}
FRANCE: A. D. 1643.
Accession of Louis XIV.
FRANCE: A. D. 1643.
Enghien's (Condé's) campaign on the Moselle.
Siege and capture of Thionville.
"On the 20th of May ... Enghien made his triumphal entry into
Rocroy. He allowed his troops to repose for two days, and then
it was towards Guise that he directed his steps. He soon heard
that Don Francisco de Melo had taken shelter at Phillipeville,
that he was trying to rally his cavalry, but that of all his
infantry not above 2,000 men remained to him, and they
disarmed and nearly naked. No army any longer protected
Flanders, and the youthful courage of Enghien already
meditated its conquest. But the Court, which had expected to
sustain war in its own provinces, was not prepared to carry it
into foreign countries. It became necessary to give up all
idea of an invasion of Maritime Flanders and the siege of
Dunkirk, with which Enghien had at first flattered himself.
Then finding that the Spaniards had drawn off their troops
from the fortifications on the Moselle, Enghien proposed to
march thither, and take possession of them. ... Although this
project was very inferior to his first, its greatness
surprised the Council of Ministers: they at first refused
their consent, but the Duke insisted--and what could they
refuse to the victor of Rocroy? Thionville was at that time
considered to be one of the best fortresses in Europe. On
arriving before its walls, after a seven days' march, Enghien
... established his lines, erected bridges, raised redoubts,
and opened a double line of trenches on the 25th of June. The
French were several times repulsed, but always rallied; and
everywhere the presence of Enghien either prevented or
repaired the disorder. ... The obstinate resistance of the
garrison obliged the French to have recourse to mines, which,
by assiduous labor, they pushed forward under the interior of
the town. Then Enghien, wishing to spare bloodshed, sent a
flag of truce to the governor, and allowed him a safe conduct
to visit the state of the works. This visit convinced the
Spaniards of the impossibility of defending themselves any
longer. ... They evacuated the town on the 22d of August.
Thionville was then little more than a heap of ruins and
ashes. ... By this conquest Enghien soon became master of the
whole course of the Moselle down to the gates of Trèves.
Sierch alone ventured to resist him, but was reduced in 24
hours. Then, disposing his army in autumn quarters, he set off
for Paris."
Lord Mahon,
Life of Louis, Prince of Condé,
chapter 1.
FRANCE: A. D. 1644-1646.
Campaigns in Catalonia.
The failures at Lerida.
See SPAIN: A. D. 1644-1646.
FRANCE: A. D. 1645-1648.
Campaigns in Flanders.
Capture of Dunkirk.
Loss of the Dutch alliance.
Conde's victory at Lens.
See NETHERLANDS: A. D. 1634-1646; 1646-1648; 1647-1648.
FRANCE: A. D. 1646-1648.
The last campaigns of the Thirty Years War.
Turenne and the Swedes in Germany.
See GERMANY: A. D. 1646-1648.
FRANCE: A. D. 1646-1654.
Hostility to the Pope.
Siege of Orbitello.
Attempts to take advantage of the insurrection in Naples.
See ITALY: A. D. 1646-1654.
FRANCE: A. D. 1647-1648.
Conflict between Court and Parliament.
The question of the Paulette.
Events leading to the First Fronde.
"The war was conducted with alternate success and failure, but
with an unintermitted waste of the public revenue; and while
Guébriant, Turenne, and Condé were maintaining the military
renown of France, D'Emery, the superintendent of finance, was
struggling with the far severer difficulty of raising her ways
and means to the level of her expenditure. The internal
history of the first five years of the regency is
thenceforward a record of the contest between the court and
the Parliament of Paris; between the court, promulgating
edicts to replenish the exhausted treasury, and the
Parliament, remonstrating in angry addresses against the
acceptance of them." Of the four sovereign courts which had
their seat at that time in the Palais de Justice of Paris, and
of which the Parliament was the most considerable--the other
three being the Chamber 'des Comptes,' the Cour des Aides, and
the Grand Conseil--the counselors or stipendiary judges held
their offices for life. "But, in virtue of the law called
Paulette [named from Paulet, its originator, in the reign of
Henry IV.] ... they also held them as an inheritance
transmissible to their descendants. The Paulette ... was a
royal ordinance which imposed an annual tax on the stipend of
every judge. It was usually passed for a term of nine years
only. If the judge died during that term, his heir was
entitled to succeed to the vacant office. But if the death of
the judge happened when the Paulette was not in force, his
heir had no such right. Consequently, the renewal of the tax
was always welcome to the stipendiary counselors of the
sovereign courts; and, by refusing or delaying to renew it,
the king could always exercise a powerful influence over them.
In April, 1647, the Paulette had expired, and the queen-mother
proposed the revival of it. But, to relieve the necessities of
the treasury, she also proposed to increase the annual per
centage which it imposed on the stipends of the counselors of
the Chamber 'des Comptes,' of the Cour des Aides, and of the
Grand Conseil. To concert measures of resistance to the
contemplated innovation, those counselors held a meeting in
the Great Hall of St. Louis; and at their request the
Parliament, though not personally and directly interested in
the change, joined their assembly." The queen sarcastically
replied to their remonstrances that the "king would not only
withdraw his proposal for an increase in the rate of the
annual tax on their stipends, but would even graciously
relieve them from that burden altogether. ... Exasperated by
the threatened loss of the heritable tenure of their offices,
and still more offended by the sarcastic terms in which that
menace was conveyed, the judges assembled in the hall of St.
Louis with increased zeal, and harangued there with yet more
indignant eloquence. Four different times the queen
interdicted their meetings, and four different times they
answered her by renewed resolutions for the continuance of
them. She threatened severe punishments, and they replied by
remonstrances. A direct collision of authority had thus
occurred, and it behooved either party to look well to their
steps." The queen began to adopt a conciliatory manner. "But
the associated magistrates derived new boldness from the
lowered tone and apparent fears of the government.
{1226}
Soaring at once above the humble topic on which they had
hitherto been engaged into the region of general politics,
they passed at a step from the question of the Paulette to a
review of all the public grievances under which their fellow
subjects were labouring. After having wrought during four
successive days in this inexhaustible mine of eloquence, they
at length, on the 30th of June, 1648, commenced the adoption
of a series of resolutions, which, by the 24th of July, had
amounted in number to 27, and which may be said to have laid
the basis of a constitutional revolution. ... Important as
these resolutions were in themselves, they were still more
important as the assertion, by the associated magistrates, of
the right to originate laws affecting all the general
interests of the commonwealth. In fact, a new power in the
state had suddenly sprung into existence. ... That was an age
in which the minds of men, in every part of Europe, had been
rudely awakened to the extent to which the unconstitutional
encroachments of popular bodies might be carried. Charles I.
was at that time a prisoner in the hands of the English
Parliament. Louis XIV. was a boy, unripe for an encounter with
any similar antagonists. ... The queen-mother, therefore,
resolved to spare no concessions by which the disaffected
magistracy might be conciliated. D'Emery was sacrificed to
their displeasure; the renewal of the Paulette on its ancient
terms was offered to them; some of the grievances of which
they complained were immediately redressed; and the young king
appeared before them in person, to promise his assent to their
other demands. In return, he stipulated only for the cessation
of their combined meetings, and for their desisting from the
further promulgation of arrêts, to which they ascribed the
force and authority of law. But the authors of this hasty
revolution were no longer masters of the spirits whom they had
summoned to their aid. ... With increasing audacity,
therefore, they persevered in defying the royal power, and in
requiring from all Frenchmen implicit submission to their own.
Advancing from one step to another, they adopted, on the 28th
of August, 1648, an arrêt in direct conflict with a recent
proclamation of the king, and ordered the prosecution of three
persons for the offense of presuming to lend him money. At
that moment their debates were interrupted by shouts and
discharges of cannon, announcing the great victory of Condé at
Lens. During the four following days religious festivals and
public rejoicings suspended their sittings. But in those four
days, the court had arranged their measures for a coup d'état.
As the Parliament retired from Notre Dame, where they had
attended at a solemn thanksgiving for the triumph of the arms
of France, they observed that the soldiery still stood to the
posts which, in honour of that ceremonial, had been assigned
to them in different quarters of the city. Under the
protection of that force, one of the presidents of the Chamber
'des Enquêtes,' and De Broussel, the chief of the
parliamentary agitators, were arrested and consigned to
different prisons, while three of their colleagues were exiled
to remote distances from the capital. At the tidings of this
violence, the Parisian populace were seized with a
characteristic paroxysm of fury. ... In less than three hours,
Paris had become an entrenched camp. ... They dictated their
own terms. The exiles were recalled and the prisoners
released. ... Then, at the bidding of the Parliament, the
people laid aside their weapons, threw down the barricades,
re-opened their shops, and resumed the common business of life
as quietly as if nothing had occurred. ... It was, however, a
short-lived triumph. The queen, her son, and Mazarin effected
their escape to St. Germains; and there, by the mediation of
Condé and of Gaston, duke of Orleans, the uncle of the king, a
peace was negotiated. The treaty of St. Germains was regarded
by the court with shame, and by the Parliament with
exultation." Fresh quarrels over it soon arose. "Condé was a
great soldier, but an unskillful and impatient peacemaker. By
his advice and aid, the queen-mother and the king once more
retired to St. Germains, and commanded the immediate
adjournment of the Parliament from Paris to Montargis. To
their remonstrances against that order they could obtain no
answer, except that if their obedience to it should be any
longer deferred, an army of 25,000 men would immediately lay,
siege to the city. War was thus declared."
Sir J. Stephen,
Lectures on the History of France,
lecture 21.
ALSO IN:
Cardinal De Retz,
Memoirs,
book 2 (volume 1).
FRANCE: A. D. 1648.
The Peace of Westphalia.
Acquisition of Alsace, etc.
See GERMANY: A. D. 1648.
FRANCE: A. D. 1649.
The First Fronde.
Doubtful origin of the name.
Siege of Paris by Condé.
Dishonorable conduct of Turenne.
Deserted by his army.
The Peace of Reuil.
"The very name of this movement is obscure, and it is only
certain that it was adopted in jest, from a child's game. It
was fitting that the struggle which became only a mischievous
burlesque on a revolution should be named from the sport of
gamins and school-boys. Fronde is the name of a sling, and the
boys of the street used this weapon in their mimic contests.
How it came to be applied to the opponents of the government
is uncertain. Some claimed it was because the members of the
Parliament, like the young frondeurs, hurled their weapons at
Mazarin, but were ready to fly when the officers of the police
appeared. Others said the term had been used by chance by some
counsellor, and had been adopted by the writers of epigrams
and mazarinades. However derived, it was not ill applied."
J. B. Perkins,
France Under Mazarin,
chapter 9 (volume 1).
"Paul de Gondi, Coadjutor of Paris [Coadjutor, that is, of the
Archbishop of Paris, who was his uncle], famous afterwards
under the name of Cardinal de Retz, placed himself at the head
of the revolution. ... The Prince of Conti, brother of Condé,
the Duke of Longueville, the Duke of Beaufort, and the Duke of
Bouillon adopted the party of the coadjutor and the
parliament. Generals were chosen for an army with which to
resist the court. Although taxes levied by Mazarin had been
resisted, taxes were freely paid to raise troops--12,000 men
were raised; Condé [commanding for the queen] had 8,000
soldiers. These he threw around Paris, and invested 100,000
burgesses, and threatened to starve the town. The citizens,
adorned with feathers and ribbons, made sorties occasionally,
but their manœuvres were the subject of scorn by the soldiers.
... As Voltaire says, the tone of the civil discords which
afflicted England at the same time mark well the difference
between the national characters.
{1227}
The English had thrown into their civil war a balanced fury
and a mournful determination. ... The French on the other hand
threw themselves into their civil strife with caprice,
laughter, dissolution and debauchery. Women were the leaders
of factions--love made and broke cabals. The Duchess of
Longueville urged Turenne, only a short time back appointed
Marshal of France, to encourage his army to revolt, which he
was commanding for his king. Nothing can justify Turenne's
action in this matter. Had he laid down his command and taken
the side of his brother [the Duke de Bouillon], on account of
his family grievance [the loss of the principality of
Sedan--see above, A. D. 1641-1642], the feudal spirit which in
those days held affection for family higher than affection for
country, might have excused him; but, while in the service of
a sovereign and intrusted with the command of an army, to
endeavour to lead his troops over to the enemy can be regarded
as nothing short of the work of a traitor. He himself pleads
as his apology that Condé was starving the population of Paris
by the investment. ... As it was he sacrificed his honour, and
allowed his fair fame to be tarnished for the sake of a
worthless woman who secretly jeered at his passion, and cared
nothing for his heart, but merely for his sword for her own
worldly advantage. As it was he endeavoured to persuade his
army to declare for the parliament, and purposed taking it
into Champagne, and marching for the relief of the capital;
but the treachery of the marshal was no match for the subtlety
of the cardinal. Before Turenne issued his declaration to his
troops the colonels of his regiment had already been tampered
with. The cardinal's emissaries had promised them pensions,
and distributed £800,000 among the officers and soldiers. This
was a decisive argument for mercenaries, who taught Turenne by
forsaking him that mercenary services can only be commanded by
money. D'Erlach had also stood firm. The regiments of Turenne,
six German regiments, called by d'Erlach, marched one night to
join him at Brisach. Three regiments of infantry threw
themselves under the guns of Philipsburg. Only a small force
was left to Turenne, who, finding the blow he intended
hopeless, sent the troops still with him to join d'Erlach at
Brisach, and retired himself with fifteen or twenty of his
friends to Heilbron, thence to Holland, where he awaited the
termination of the civil war. The news of the abandonment of
Turenne was received with despair at Paris, with wild joy at
St. Germain. His banishment, however, was not long. The
leaders of the parliament became aware that the princes of the
Fronde were trying to obtain foreign assistance to overturn
the monarchy; that their generals were negotiating a treaty
with Spain. They felt that order, peace, and the independence
of parliament, which would in this case become dependent upon
the nobility, was in danger. They took the patriotic
resolution quickly to act of their own accord. A conference
had been opened between the parliament and the Court. Peace
was concluded at Reuil, which, notwithstanding the
remonstrances of Conti [brother of Condé, the family being
divided in the First Fronde], Bouillon, and the other nobles
of the Fronde, was accepted by the whole parliament. Peace was
proclaimed in Paris to the discontent of the populace. ...
Turenne, on the conclusion of the treaty of Reuil, embarked in
Zeeland, landed at Dieppe, and posted to Paris."
H. M. Hozier,
Turenne,
chapter 6.
"After the signing of the peace, the Château of St. Germain
became the resort of many Frondeurs; the Duchess de
Longueville, the Prince of Conti, and nearly all the other
chiefs of the party, hastened to pay their respects to the
Queen. She received everybody without bitterness, some even
with friendship; and the Minister on his part affected much
general good-will. ... One of the first effects of the peace
between the parties was a reconciliation in the House of
Condé. The Princess Dowager employed herself with zeal and
success in reestablishing harmony between her children. Condé,
who despised his brother too much to hate him, readily agreed
to a reconciliation with him. As to his sister, he had always
felt for her great affection and confidence, and she no less
for him: these sentiments were revived at their very first
interview at Ruel, and he not only gave her back his
friendship, but began to enter into her views, and even to be
guided by her counsels. The Prince's policy was to make
Royalty powerful and respected, but not absolute. He said
publicly that he had done what he ought in upholding Mazarin,
because he had promised to do so: but for the future, if
things took a different line, he should not be bound by the
past. ... A prey to a thousand conflicting feelings, and
discontented with everybody, and perhaps with himself, he took
the resolution of retiring for several months to his
government in Burgundy. On returning from Dijon in the month
of August, the Prince found the Queen and the Cardinal at
Compiègne, and very much dejected. ... He ... pressed her to
return to Paris with her Minister, answering for Mazarin's
safety, at the risk of his own head. ... Their entry into
Paris took place a few days after."
Lord Mahon,
Life of Louis, Prince of Condé,
chapter 3-4.
ALSO IN:
Guy Joli,
Memoirs,
volume 1.
Cardinal De Retz,
Memoirs,
book 2.
Miss Pardoe,
Louis XIV.,
chapters 9-11.
FRANCE: A. D. 1650-1651.
The New Fronde, or the Petits Maitres.
Its alliance with Spain and defeat at Rethel.
Revolt, siege and reduction of Bordeaux.
"Faction, laid asleep for one night, woke again fresh and
vigorous next morning. There was a Parliamentary party, a De
Retz party, and a Condé party, and each party plotted and
schemed unceasingly to discredit the others and to evoke
popular feeling against all except itself. ... Neither of the
leaders, each pretending fear of assassination, ever stirred
abroad unless in the company of 400 or 500 gentlemen, thus
holding the city in hourly peril of an 'émeute.' Condé's
arrogance and insolence becoming at last totally unbearable,
the Court proceeded to the bold measure of arresting him. New
combinations: De Retz and Orleans coalesce once more; De Retz
coquets with Mazarin and is promised a cardinal's hat. Wily
Mazarin strongly supports De Retz's nomination in public, and
privately urges every member of the council to vote against it
and to beseech the Queen to refuse the dignity. It was
refused; upon which De Retz turned his energies upon a general
union of parties for the purpose of effecting the release of
Condé and the overthrow of the minister.'
De Retz and the Fronde
(Temple Bar, volume 38, pages 535-536).
{1228}
Condé, his brother Conti, and his brother-in-law Longueville,
were arrested and conducted to Vincennes on the 18th of
January, 1650. "This was the second crisis of the sedition.
The old Fronde had expired; its leaders had sold themselves to
the Court; but in its place sprang up the New Fronde, called
also, from the affected airs of its leaders, the Petits
Maîtres. The beautiful Duchess of Longueville was the soul of
it, aided by her admirer, Marsillac, afterwards Duke de la
Rochefoucauld, and by the Duke of Bouillon. On the arrest of
her husband and her brother, the duchess had fled to Holland,
and afterwards to Stenai; where she and Bouillon's brother,
Turenne, who styled himself the 'King's Lieutenant-General for
the liberation of the Princes,' entered into negotiations with
the Archduke Leopold. Bouillon himself had retired into
Guienne, which province was alienated from the Court because
Mazarine maintained as its governor the detested Epernon. In
July Bouillon and his allies publicly received a Spanish envoy
at Bordeaux. Condé's wife and infant son had been received in
that city with enthusiasm. But on the approach of Mazarine
with the royal army, the inhabitants of Guienne, alarmed for
their vintage, now approaching maturity, showed signs of
submission; after a short siege Bordeaux surrendered, on
condition of an amnesty, in which Bouillon and La
Rochefoucauld were included; and the Princess of Condé was
permitted to retire (October 1st 1650). In the north, the
Frondeurs, with their Spanish allies, seemed at first more
successful. In the summer Leopold had entered Champagne,
penetrated to Ferté Milon, and some of his marauding parties
had even reached Dammartin. Turenne tried to persuade the
Archduke to march to Vincennes and liberate the princes; but
while he was hesitating, Gaston transferred the captives to
Marcoussis, whence they were soon after conveyed to Havre.
Leopold and Turenne, after a vain attempt to rouse the
Parisians, retreated to the Meuse and laid siege to Mouzon.
The Cardinal himself, like his master Richelieu, now assumed
the character of a general. Uniting with his troops in the
north the army of Guienne, he took up his quarters at Rethel,
which had been captured by Du Plessis Praslin. Hence he
ordered an attack to be made on the Spaniards. In the battle
which ensued, these were entirely defeated, many of their
principal officers were captured, and even Turenne himself
narrowly escaped the same fate (December 15th 1650). The
Cardinal's elation was unbounded. It was a great thing to have
defeated Turenne, and though the victory was Du Plessis',
Mazarine assumed all the credit of it. His head began to turn.
He forgot that he owed his success to the leaders of the old
Fronde, and especially to the Coadjutor; he neglected his
promises to that intriguing prelate, though Gondi plainly
declared that he must either be a prince of the Church or the
head of a faction. Mazarine was also imprudent enough to
offend the Parliament; and he compared them with that sitting
at London--which indeed was doing them too much honour. The
Coadjutor went over to the party of the princes, dragging with
him the feeble-minded Orleans, who had himself been insulted
by the Queen. Thus was produced a third phase of this singular
sedition--the union of the old Fronde with the new. The
Parliament now clamoured for the liberation of the princes. As
the Queen hesitated, Gaston bluntly declared that the
dismissal of Mazarine was necessary to the restoration of
peace; while the Parliament added to their former demand
another for the Cardinal's banishment. Mazarine saw his
mistake and endeavoured to rectify it. He hastened to Havre in
order to liberate the princes in person, and claim the merit
of a spontaneous act. But it was too late; it was plain that
he was acting only by constraint. The princes were conducted
back in triumph to Paris by a large retinue sent to escort
them. On February 25th 1651, their innocence was established
by a royal declaration, and they were restored to all their
dignities and charges. Mazarine, meanwhile, who saw that for
the present the game was lost, retired into exile; first into
Bouillon, and afterwards to Brühl on the Rhine, where the
Elector of Cologne offered him an asylum. From this place he
corresponded with the Queen, and continued to direct her
counsels. The anarchy and confusion that had ensued in France
were such as promised him a speedy return."
T. H. Dyer,
History of Modern Europe,
book 5, chapter 1 (volume 3).
ALSO IN:
T. Wright,
History of France,
book 4, chapter 4 (volume 2).
Miss Pardoe,
Louis XIV. and the Court of France,
volume 1, chapter 13-15.
FRANCE: A. D. 1651-1652.
The loss of Catalonia.
See SPAIN: A. D. 1648-1652.
FRANCE: A. D. 1651-1653.
The arrogance of Condé and his renewal of civil war.
The King's majority proclaimed.
General changing of sides.
Battle of Porte St. Antoine and massacre of
the Hôtel de Ville.
End of the Fronde.
Condé in the service of Spain.
"The liberated captives were received with every demonstration
of joy by all Paris and the Frondeurs, including the Duke of
Orleans. The Queen, melancholy, and perhaps really ill, lay in
bed to receive their visit of cold ceremony; but the Duke of
Orleans gave them a grand supper, and there was universal joy
at being rid of Mazarin. ... There was a promise to assemble
the States General, while Condé thought himself governing the
kingdom, and as usual his arrogance gave offence in various
quarters. One article in the compact which had gained his
liberty was that the Prince of Conti should marry Mademoiselle
de Chevreuse, but this alliance offended the pride of the
elder brother, and he broke the marriage off hastily and
haughtily. Madame de Chevreuse, much offended, repented of the
aid she had given, went over to the Queen's party, and took
with her the coadjutor, who was devoted to the rejected
daughter, and could always sway the mob of Paris. So many
persons had thus come to desert the cause of the Prince that
Anne of Austria thought of again arresting him." Condé,
supposing himself in danger, fled from the city on the 6th of
July, and "went to his château of St. Maur, where his family
and friends joined him; and he held a kind of court. Queen and
Parliament both sent entreaties to him to return, but he
disdained them all, and made the condition of his return the
dismissal of the secretaries whom Mazarin had left. The Queen,
most unwillingly, made them retire, and Condé did return for a
short time; but he was haughtier than ever, and openly
complained of Mazarin's influence, making every preparation
for a civil war. Strangely violent scenes took place," between
the Prince and the Coadjutor and their respective adherents;
and presently the Prince "quitted Paris, went to Chantilly,
and decided on war.
{1229}
Mazarin wrote to the Queen that the most prudent course would
be to ally herself with the Parliament to crush the Princes.
After they should have been put down the Parliament would be
easily dealt with. She acted on this advice. The elections for
the States General were beginning, but in order to quash them,
and cancel all her promises, the Queen decided on proclaiming
the majority of the King, and thus the close of her own
regency. It was of course a farce, since he had only just
entered his fourteenth year, and his mother still conducted
the Government; but it made a new beginning, and was an
occasion for stirring up the loyalty of the people. ... Condé
was unwilling to begin a civil war, and was only driven into
it by his sister's persuasions and those of his friends.
'Remember,' he said, 'if I once draw the sword, I shall be the
last to return it to the scabbard.' On the other side, Anne of
Austria said, 'Monsieur le Prince shall perish, or I will.'
From Montrond, Condé directed his forces to take possession of
the cities in Guyenne, and he afterwards proceeded to
Bordeaux. On the other hand, Mazarin repaired to Sedan, and
contrived to raise an army in the frontier cities, with which
he marched to join the King and Queen at Poitiers. War was
raging again, still as the Fronde, though there had been a
general change of sides, the Parliament being now for the
Court, and the Princes against it, the Duke of Orleans in a
state of selfish agitation between the two. Learning that the
royal army was advancing to his own appanage of Orleans, and
fearing that the city might open its gates to them, he sent
off his daughter, Mademoiselle [de Montpensier], to keep the
citizens to what he called their duty to himself. She went
with only two ladies and her servants ... and found the gates
closed against her." The persevering Mademoiselle succeeded,
however, in gaining admission to the town, despite the orders
of the magistrates, and she kept out of it the soldiers of
both factions in the war. But her own inclinations were
strongly towards Condé and his side. "She went out to a little
inn to hold a council with the Dukes of Beaufort and Nemours,
and had to mediate between them in a violent quarrel. ...
Indeed, Condé's party were ill-agreed; he had even quarreled
with his sister, and she had broken with De la Rochefoucauld!
The Duke de Bouillon and his brother Turenne were now on the
Queen's side, and the command of the royal army was conferred
on the Viscount. Condé, with only eight persons, dashed across
France, to take the command of the army over which Beaufort and
Nemours were disputing. The very morning after he arrived,
Turenne saw by the disposition of the troops who must be
opposed to him. 'M. le Prince is come,' he said. They were the
two greatest captains of the age, and they fought almost in
sight of the King and Queen at Bleneau. But though there were
skirmishes [including, at the outset, the serious defeat of a
division of the royal forces under Hocquincourt], no decisive
engagement took place. It was a struggle of manœuvres, and in
this Condé had the disadvantage. ... Week after week the two
armies ... watched one another, till at last Condé was driven
up to the walls of Paris, and there the gates were closed
against both armies. Condé was at St. Cloud, whence, on the
2nd of July [1652], he endeavoured to lead his army round to
Charenton at the confluence of the Seine and the Loire; but
when he came in front of the Porte St. Antoine, he found that
a battle was inevitable and that he was caught in a trap,
where, unless he could escape through the city, his
destruction was inevitable. He barricaded the three streets
that met there, heaping up his baggage as a protection, and
his friends within, many of them wives of gentlemen in his
army, saw the situation with despair." The only one who had
energy to act was Mademoiselle. She extorted from her
hesitating father an order, by virtue of which she persuaded
the magistrates of the city, not only to open the gates to
Condé, but to send 2,000 men to the Faubourg St. Antoine.
"Mademoiselle now repaired to the top of the great square
tower of the Bastille, whence she could see the terrible
conflict carried on in the three suburban streets which
converged at the Porte St. Antoine." Seeing an opportunity to
turn the cannon of the Bastille on the pursuing troops, she
did so with effect. "Turenne was obliged to draw back, and at
last Condé brought his army into the city, where they encamped
in the open space of the Pré des Clercs. ... Condé unworthily
requited the hospitality wrung from the city. He was resolved
to overcome the neutrality of the Parliament, and, in concert
with Beaufort, instigated the mob to violence. Many soldiers
were disguised as artizans, and mingled with the rabble, when,
on the 4th of July, he went to the Hotel de Ville, ostensibly
to thank, the magistrates, but really to demand their support
against the Crown. These loyal men, however, by a majority of
votes, decided on a petition to the King to return without
Mazarin. On this Condé exclaimed publicly, 'These gentlemen
will do nothing for us. They are Mazarinists. Treat them as
you please.' Then he retired to the Luxembourg with Gaston,
while Beaufort let loose the mob. The Hotel de Ville was
stormed, the rabble poured in at doors and windows, while the
disguised soldiers fired from the opposite houses, and the
magistrates were threatened and pursued on all sides. They had
one advantage, that they knew their way through the intricate
passages and the mob did not. The first who got out rushed to
the Luxembourg to entreat the Duke and Prince to stop the
massacre; but Monsieur only whistled and beat his tattoo, and
Condé said he knew nothing about sedition. Nor would Beaufort
interfere till the disturbance had lasted many hours; but
after all many more of the rabble were killed than of the
magistrates. It was the last remarkable scene in the strange
drama of the Fronde. The Parliament suspended its sittings,
and the King transferred it to Pontoise, whither Molé and all
the other Presidents proceeded, leaving Paris in disguise.
This last ferocious proceeding of Condé's, though he tried to
disavow it, had shocked and alienated everyone, and he soon
after fell sick of a violent fever. Meanwhile, his castle of
Montrond was taken after a year's siege, Nemours was killed in
a duel by the Duke of Beaufort, and the party was falling to
pieces. ... Mazarin saw the opportunity, and again left the
Court for the German frontier. This was all that was wanting
to bring back the malcontents. Condé offered to make terms,
but was haughtily answered that it was no time for
negotiation, but for submission. Upon this, he proceeded to
the Low Countries, and offered his sword to the Spaniards.
{1230}
The King entered Paris in state and held a bed of justice, in
which he proclaimed an amnesty, excepting from it Condé and
Conti, and some others of their party, and forbidding the
Parliament to interfere in State affairs. The Coadjutor, who
had become a Cardinal, was arrested, and imprisoned until he
made his escape, dislocating his shoulder in his fall from the
window, but finally reaching Rome, where he lived till the
Fronde was forgotten, but never becoming Archbishop of Paris.
... When all was quiet, Mazarin returned, in February, 1653,
without the slightest opposition, and thus ended the Fronde,
in the entire triumph of the Crown. ... The misery, distress
and disease caused by these wars of the Fronde were
unspeakable. There was nothing to eat in the provinces where
they had raged but roots, rotten fruit, and bread made of
bran. ... Le misère de la Fronde' was long a proverbial
expression in France."
C. M. Yonge,
Cameos from English History,
chapter 15.
ALSO IN:
Lord Mahon,
Life of Condé,
chapters 8-9.
G. P. R. James,
Life and Times of Louis XIV.,
chapters 11-12.
Cardinal de Retz,
Memoirs,
books 3-4 (volumes 2-3).
M'lle de Montpensier,
Memoirs,
volume 1, chapters 11-17.
FRANCE: A. D. 1652.
Loss of Gravelines and Dunkirk.
Spanish invasion of Picardy.
"In the spring of 1652, the Spanish forces, under the command
of the archduke had undertaken the siege of Gravelines, which
was obliged to capitulate on the 18th of May. The archduke
next undertook the siege of Dunkirk, but, at the earnest
desire of the princes, he merely blockaded the place, and sent
Fuensaldaña with about 14,000 men into Picardy to their
assistance. ... The court, in great alarm, sought first a
retreat in Normandy, but the Duke of Longueville, who still
held the government of that province, refused to receive
Mazarin. The fears of the court were not lessened by this
proceeding, and it was even proposed to carry the king to
Lyons; but the wiser counsels of Turenne finally prevailed,
and it was resolved to establish the army at Compiègne, and
lodge the court at Pontoise. Fuensaldaña forced the passage of
the Oise at Chauni, and then joined the duke of Lorraine at
Fismes, on the 29th of July, when their joint forces amounted
to full 20,000 men, while Turenne had not more than 11,000 to
oppose to them. But the Spaniards were, as usual, only
pursuing a selfish policy, and Fuensaldaña, in pursuance of
the archduke's orders, left a body of 3,000 cavalry to
reinforce the duke of Lorraine, and returned with the rest of
his troops to assist in the siege of Dunkirk," which soon
surrendered to his arms.
T. Wright,
History of France,
volume 2, page 89.
FRANCE: A. D. 1652-1653.
Last phase of the Fronde at Bordeaux.
Attempted revolution by the Society of the Ormée.
See BORDEAUX: A. D. 1652-1653.
FRANCE: A. D. 1653-1656.
Condé's campaigns against his own country, in the service of
Spain.
"Condé, unfortunately for his fame, made no attempts at
reconciliation, and retired to the Spaniards--an enemy of his
country! He captured several small places on the [Flemish]
frontier, and hoped to return in spring victorious. A few days
after the entry into Paris, Turenne set out to oppose him;
and, retaking some towns, had the satisfaction, of compelling
him to seek winter quarters beyond the limits of France. ...
Condé persuaded the Spanish to bring 30,000 men into the field
for the next campaign: Turenne and La Ferté had but 13,000. To
paralyze the plans of the enemy, the Viscount proposed, and
his proposal was allowed, to be always threatening their rear
and communications; to occupy posts they would not dare to
attack, and so to avoid fighting, at the same time hindering
them from all important undertakings. He began by throwing
himself between two corps of their army, at the point where
they expected to effect a junction; and in the eight or nine
days thus gained, he recovered Rhétel, without which it would
have been, as he declares himself, impossible to defend
Picardy and Champagne. Rhétel, so much an object of anxiety,
was taken in three days. Baffled in their original purposes,
and at a loss, the Spanish expected a large convoy from
Cambray, escorted by 3,000 horse. Turenne got news of this,
and, posting himself near Peronne to intercept it, drove it
back to Cambray [August 11, 1653]. There Condé and Fuensaldaña
turned upon him; but he took up a position, which they watched
for three or four days, and there defied their attack. They
refused the challenge. Thence the enemy drew off," with
designs on Guise, which Turenne frustrated. "Condé then laid
siege to Rocroi, where his own first glory had been gained;
and this place is so hemmed in by woods and defiles, that the
relief of it was impossible. But Turenne compensated for the
loss of it by the equally valuable recapture, of Mouson. Thus
the whole year was spent in marches and countermarches, in
gains and losses, which had no influence on events. By this
time the malcontents were so prostrate that Condé's brother,
the Prince de Conti, and his sister, the Duchesse de
Longueville, made their peace with the court. ... The year
1654 opened with the siege of Stenay by the young king in
person, who was carried thither by Mazarin, to overawe Condé's
governor with the royal name and majesty. That officer was
more true to his trust than to his allegiance, and Stenay cost
a siege. ... Condé could do no better than imitate Turenne's
policy of the previous year, and besiege Arras as an
equivalent for Stenay; to which end he mustered 32,000 men.
Arras was a town of some value. Condé had caught it at
disadvantage; the governor, Mondejeu ... was put on his
defence with 2,500 foot and 100 horse. To reinforce this
slender garrison was the first care of Turenne. ... Mazarin
was anxious for Arras, and offered Turenne to break up the
siege of Stenay, for the sake of reinforcing the army of
relief. This proposal the Viscount declined. He must have been
very confident of his own capacity; for he could collect only
14,000 men to hover around the enemy's camp. ... He proposed
no attempt upon the intrenchments till he had the aid of the
troops from Stenay ... ; but he disposed his parties around so
as to prevent the enemy's convoys from reaching them." Stenay
surrendered on the 6th of August, and Turenne, with
reinforcements from its besiegers, attacked the Spanish lines
at Arras on the night of the 24th, with complete success. The
Spaniards raised the siege and retreated to Cambray, leaving
3,000 prisoners and 63 pieces of cannon in the hands of the
French. "The capture of Quesnoy and Binches filled up the rest
of the year; the places were weak and the garrisons feeble.
{1231}
Nor did the next season, 1655, offer anything of interest.
Turenne reduced Landrecies, Condé, and Guislain, while his
active opponent was sometimes foiled by his precautions, and
sometimes baffled by the absurd behaviour of the Spanish
authorities. ... The great event of 1656 was the siege of
Valenciennes. This place ... was invested by Turenne about the
middle of June: but hardly had his camp been intrenched before
he repented of his undertaking. The Scheldt flows through the
town, and by reservoirs and sluices was flooded at the will of
the enemy. Turenne's camp was largely inundated. ... He had
overestimated his means: so great was the circle of his
circumvallation that he had not men enough to guard it
adequately, when Condé and the Spanish appeared with 20,000
men to the relief of the place." They broke through his lines
and forced him to retreat, with a heavy loss of prisoners
taken. "The Viscount retrieved his credit by the bold stand he
made after the defeat."
T. O. Cockayne,
Life of Marshal Turenne,
pages 58-69.
ALSO IN:
Lord Mahon,
Life of Condé,
chapter 10.
J. B. Perkins,
France under Mazarin,
chapters 16-17 (volume 2).
FRANCE: A. D. 1653-1660.
First persecution of the Jansenists.
See PORT ROYAL AND THE JANSENISTS.
FRANCE: A. D. 1655-1658.
Alliance with the English Commonwealth against Spain.
The taking of Dunkirk for England and Gravelines for France.
End of the war.
"Mazarin was now bent upon an enterprise which, if successful,
must finish the war. A deadly blow would be struck at the
strength of Spain if Dunkirk, Mardyck, and Gravelines--the
possession of which was of vital importance to her
communication with Flanders, as well as enabling her to ruin
French commerce on that coast--could be wrested from her. For
this the cooperation of some maritime power was necessary, and
Mazarin determined at all costs to secure England. With
Cromwell, the only diplomatist by whose astuteness he
confessed himself baffled, he had been negotiating since 1651.
... At length on November 3, 1655, a treaty was signed at
Westminster, based upon freedom of commerce and an engagement
that neither country should assist the enemies or rebels of
the other; Mazarin consented to expel Charles II., James, and
twenty named royalists from France. Cromwell similarly agreed
to dismiss from England the emissaries of Condé. But Mazarin
was soon anxious for a more effectual bond. ... Cromwell had
equally good reasons for drawing closer to France, for Spain
was preparing actively to assist Charles II. French and
English interests thus coinciding, an alliance was signed at
Paris on March 23, 1657
See ENGLAND: A. D. 1655-1658.
Gravelines and Dunkirk were to be at once besieged both by
land and sea. England was to send 6,000 men to assist the
French army. Gravelines was to become French and Dunkirk
English; should the former fall first it was to be held by
England until Dunkirk too was taken. ... The alliance was not
a moment too soon. The campaign of 1657 had opened
disastrously. The tide was however turned by the arrival of
the English contingent. Montmédy was immediately besieged, and
capitulated on August 4. The effect was again to make Mazarin
hang back from further effort, since it seemed possible now to
make peace with Spain, and thereby avoid an English occupation
of Dunkirk. But Cromwell would stand no trifling, and his
threats were so clear that Mazarin determined to act loyally
and without delay. On September 30, Turenne laid siege to
Mardyck, which protected Dunkirk, and took it in four days. It
was at once handed over to the English." In the spring of 1658
the siege of Dunkirk was begun. The Spaniards, under Don John
of Austria and Condé, attempting to relieve the place, were
defeated (June 13) in the battle of the Dunes, by Turenne and
Cromwell's Ironsides (see ENGLAND: A. D.1655-1658). "Dunkirk
immediately surrendered, and on the 25th was in Cromwell's
possession. Two months later Gravelines also fell. A short and
brilliant campaign followed, in which Don John and Condé, shut
up in Brussels and Tournai respectively, were compelled to
remain inactive while fortress after fortress fell into French
hands. A few days after the fall of Gravelines Cromwell died;
but Mazarin was now near his goal. Utterly defeated on her own
soil, beaten, too, by the Portuguese at Elvas, and threatened
in Milan, her army ruined, her treasury bankrupt, without a
single ally in Europe, Spain stood at last powerless before
him."
O. Airy,
The English Restoration and Louis XIV.,
chapter 6.
FRANCE: A. D. 1657.
Candidacy of Louis XIV. for the imperial crown.
See GERMANY: A. D. 1648-1705.
FRANCE: A. D. 1659-1661.
The treaty of the Pyrenees.
Marriage of Louis XIV. to the Spanish Infanta.
"The Spaniards could struggle no longer: they sued for peace.
Things were prepared for it on every hand: Spain was
desperate; matters far from settled or safe in France; in
England the Protector's death had come very opportunely for
Mazarin; the strong man was no longer there to hold the
balance between the European powers. Questions as to a Spanish
marriage and the Spanish succession had been before men since
1648; the Spaniards had disliked the match, thinking that in
the end it must subject them to France. But things were
changed; Philip IV. now had an heir, so that the nations might
hope to remain under two distinct crowns; moreover, the needs
of Spain were far greater than in 1648, while the demands of
France were less. So negociation between Mazarin and Louis de
Haro on the little Isle of Pheasants in the Bidassoa, under
the very shadow of the Pyrenees, went on prosperously; even
the proposal that Louis XIV. should espouse the Infanta of
Spain, Maria Theresa, was at last agreed to at Madrid. The
only remaining difficulty arose from" the fact that the young
King, Louis XIV., had fallen in love with Maria Mancini,
Cardinal Mazarin's niece, and wished to marry her. "The King
at last abandoned his youthful and pure passion, and signed
the Treaty of the Pyrenees [concluded November 7, 1659],
condemning himself to a marriage of state, which exalted high
the dignity of the French Crown, only to plunge it in the end
into the troubles and disasters of the Succession War. The
treaty of peace begins with articles on trade and navigation:
then follow cessions, restitutions, and exchanges of
territories.
{1232}
1. On the Northern frontier Spain ceded all she had in Artois,
with exception of Aire and S. Omer; in Flanders itself France
got Gravelines and its outer defences. In Hainault she became
mistress of the important towns, Landrecies, Quesnoy, and
Avesnes, and also strengthened her position by some exchanges:
in Luxemburg she retained Thionville, Montmédy, and several
lesser places; so that over her whole northern border France
advanced her frontier along a line answering to her old
limits. ... In return she restored to Spain several of her
latest conquests in Flanders: Ypres, Oudenarde, Dixmüden,
Furnes, and other cities. In Condé's country France recovered
Rocroy, Le Câtelet and Linchamp, occupied by the Prince's
soldiers; and so secured the safety and defences of Champagne
and Paris.
2. More to the East, the Duke of Lorraine, having submitted
with such good grace as might be, was reinstated in his Duchy.
... But France received her price here also, the Duchy of Bar,
the County of Clermont on the edge of Champagne, Stenay, Dun,
Jametz, Moyenvic, became hers. The fortifications of Nancy
were to be rased for ever; the Duke of Lorraine bound himself
to peace, and agreed to give France free passage to the
Bishopricks and Alsace. This was the more necessary, because
Franche-Comté, the other highway into Alsace, was left to the
Spaniards, and such places in it as were in the King's hands
were restored to them. Far out in Germany Louis XIV. replaced
Jülich in the hands of the Duke of Neuberg; and that element
of controversy, the germ or pretext of these long wars, was
extinct for ever. On the Savoyard border France retained
Pinerolo, with all the means and temptations of offence which
it involved: she restored to the Duke her other conquests
within his territories, and to the Spaniards whatever she held
in Lombardy; she also honourably obtained an amnesty for those
subjects of Spain, Neapolitans or Catalans, who had sided with
France. Lastly, the Pyrenees became the final, as it was the
natural, boundary between the two Latin kingdoms. ...
Roussillon and Conflans became French: all French conquests to
the south of the Pyrenees were restored to Spain. The Spanish
King renounced all claims on Alsace or Breisach: on the other
hand the submission of the great Condé was accepted; he was
restored to all his domains; his son, the young Duke of
Enghien, being made Grand Master of France, and he himself
appointed Governor of Burgundy and Bresse: his friends and
followers were included in the amnesty. Some lesser
stipulations, with a view to the peace of Europe, for the
settlement of the differences between Spain and Portugal,