Presented to the

UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO
LIBRARY

by the

ONTARIO LEGISLATIVE
LIBRARY

1980

OF VC

Henry IV.

59848

'

!I *^

il tf

CONTENTS OF VOL. II

BOOK II

MARIE DE MEDICIS AS REGENT

CHAPTER I
1610

22

M.2.

Self-possession of Marie de Medicis The Dues de Guise and
d'Epernon Assemble the Nobility Precautions for the Se-
curity of the Metropolis The First Audience of the Widowed
Queen Impolicy of Sully The Due d'Epernon Announces to
the Parliament the Authorised Regency of Marie By Whom
it is Ratified Precarious Position of the Queen-mother The
First Night of Widowhood Injudicious Apathy of Marie de
Medicis on the Subject of Her Husband's Murder Her In-
cautious Display of Favour Towards the Due d'Epernon The
Duke is Suspected of Having Been an Accessory to the As-
sassination of Henri IV. He Demands the Punishment of the
Authors of the Rumour A Lawyer and a Courtier Fearless
Reply of the President de Harlay to the Rebuke of the Regent
Suspicions Against Philip of Spain Louis XIII. Holds His
First Bed^ of Justice The Queen Requests the Support of th
Padjfcment -Return of the Court to the Louvre The Dgc de
jits ti>e $ueen Effect of His Reception The Pj

? !

-

vi Contents

Dowager of Conde Urges the Return of Her Son to Court M.
de Soissons is Invited by Marie de Medicis to the Capital His
Disappointment His Arrogance A Courtly Falsehood Re-
ception of M. de Soissons at the Gates of Paris His Numerous
Retinue The Recompense of Obedience Congratulatory
Deputations Trial of the Regicide Ravaillac His Execution
Arrival of the Due de Bouillon in Paris His Quarrel with
the Due de Sully They are Reconciled The Court Attend a
Funeral Service at Notre-Dame Presumption of the Due
d'Epernon Marie de Medicis Devotes Herself to State Af-
fairsJealousy of the Princes of the Blood and Great Nobles
Marie Endeavours to Conciliate Them The Spanish Min-
ister Endeavours to Prevent the Return of the Prince de Conde
Without Success The Regent Forms a Council Preten-
sions of the Nobles The Due d'Epernon Takes Possession of
Apartments in the Louvre He Leagues with the Comte de
Soissons Against the Prince de Conde Speculations of the
Ministers Their Policy Boyhood of Louis XIII. A Deli-
cate Position A Royal Rebuke Court Favour The Vision-
ary Government Discontent of the Citizens of Paris Un-
popularity of the Regent The Ex-Queen's Entertainment
Imprudence of Marie de Medicis Confirmation of the Edict
of Nantes Return of the Prince de Conde The Regent is
Alarmed by His Popularity Double-dealing of the Due
d'Epernon The Prince de Conde Declares His Intention to
Uphold the Interests of the Regent His Reception at the
Louvre He Rejoins His Wife The Court of the Hotel de
Conde A Cabal Marie is Advised to Arrest the Prince de
Conde She Refuses The Secret Council Indignation of
Sully Mischievous Advice of the Due de Bouillon Munifi-
cence of the Regent to M. de Conde The Royal Treasury
Venality of the French Princes The English Ambassador
Royal Pledges Philip of Spain Proposes a Double Alliance
with France The Regent Welcomes the Offer Policy of
Philip The Secret Pledge Madame de Verneuil Urges Her
Claim to the Hand of the Due de Guise The Important Docu-
ment A Ducal Dilemma The Regent Discountenances the
Claim of the Marquise Madame de Verneuil is Induced by
Jeannin to Withdraw Her Pretensions Her Subsequent Ob-
scurity

Contents vii

CHAPTER II
1610

A Temporary Calm Louis XIII. Marie de Medicis Purchases
the Marquisate of "Ancre for Concini Rapid Rise of His
Fortunes His Profusion He Intrigues to Create Dissension
Among the Prince's of the Blood His Personal Endowments
The Due de Bouillon Endeavours to Induce M. de Conde to
Revolt He fails He Disposes of His Office at Court to the
Marquis d'Ancre Marie de Medicis Continues the Public Edi-
fices Commenced and Projected by Henri IV. Zeal of the Due
de Mayenne Cupidity of the Court M. de Conde and His
Advisers The Prince and the Minister Forebodings of Sully
He Determines to Resign Office His Unpopularity The
Regent Refuses to Accept His Resignation The War in
Germany The Regent Resolves to Despatch an Army to
Cleves The Due de Bouillon Demands the Command of the
Troops Is Refused by the Council Retires in Disgust to
Sedan The Command is Conferred on the Marechal de la
Chatre A Bootless Campaign The French Troops Return
Home New Dissensions at Court The Due d'Epernon Be-
comes the Declared Enemy of the Protestants Apprehensions
of the Reformed Party Quarrel of Sully and Villeroy The
Regent Endeavours to Effect a Reconciliation with the Prince
de Conti Princely Wages M. de Conti Returns to Court
The Princes of the Blood Attend the Parliament The Marquis
d'Ancre is Admitted to the State Council Sully and Bouillon
Retire from the Capital Sully Resolves to Withdraw from the
Government, but is Again Induced to Retain Office The King
and Pere Cotton The Court Leave Paris for Rheims Corona-
tion of Louis XIII. His Public Entry Into the Capital The
Prince de Conde and the Comte de Soissons are Reconciled
Quarrel Between the Marquis d'Ancre and the Due de Belle-
garde Cabal Against Sully The Huguenots Petition for a
General Assembly Reluctance of the Regent to Concede
Their Demand She Finds Herself Compelled to Comply M.
de Villeroy Garrisons Lyons Sully Retires from the Ministry
Demands of the Princes Sully's last Official Act His
Parting Interview with Louis XIII. The Minister and the
Mountebanks - - *53

viii Contents

CHAPTER III
1611

A Cold Correspondence Increasing Influence of the Marquis
d'Ancre Animosity Between the Due d'Epernon and Concini
Disunion of the Princes de Guise and de Lorraine Re-
newed Dissensions Between M. de Bellegarde and the Marquis
d'Ancre They are Reconciled by the Comte de Soissons
Marriage of the Due de Guise Jealousy of M. de Soissons
Quarrel Between the Prince de Conti and the Comte de Sois-
sons Mission of the Due de Guise A New Rupture Inter-
vention of the Due de Mayenne Alarm of the Regent Sully
Leaves Paris Madame de Sully Retirement of M. de Thou
Unpopularity of the Due d'Epernon Marie de Medicis
Endeavours to Reconcile the Princes The Royal Closet The
Protestants Prepare for the General Assembly The Prince de
Conde Retires to Guienne The Due d'Epernon is Charged to
Watch His Movements Arrogance of Concini Concini Seeks
to Marry His Daughter to a Son of the Comte de Soissons
Indignation of the Prince Cunning of Concini Bouillon Re-
turns to Court He Offers His Services to the Regent at the
General Assembly He Proceeds to Saumur He Desires to
be Appointed President of the Assembly He is Rejected in
Favour of M. du Plessis-Mornay He Attributes His Defeat
to Sully He Resolves to Conciliate the ex-Minister of Finance
Meeting of the Assembly The Court Determines to Dis-
solve the Meeting Prudence of Du Plessis-Mornay Death of
M. de Crequy The Marquis d'Ancre Succeeds to the Govern-
ment of Amiens His Insolent Disregard of the Royal Pre-
rogative Indignation of the Ministers The Regent Resents
His Impertinence She Refuses to Receive Madame d'Ancre
Intrigues of the Princesse de Conti The Favourites Forgiven
Marie de Medicis Issues Several Salutary Edicts Court
Festivities The Duchesse de Lorraine Arrives at Fontaine-
bleau Death of the Due de Mayenne Death of the Queen of
Spain The Duchesse de Lorraine Claims the Hand of Louis
XIII. for Her Daughter Death of the Due d'Orleans De-
parture of the Duchesse de Lorraine Rival Claims M. de
Breves Appointed Preceptor to the Due d'Anjou The Comte
de Soissons Applies for the Duchy of Alen<;on Rebuke of the

Contents ix

Regent A Hunting-party. A New Cabal Recall of the
Marechal de Lesdiguieres Marie de Medicis Purchases the
H6tel de Luxembourg 91

CHAPTER IV

1612

The Princes of the Blood Retire from the Court Increased In-
fluence of the Dues 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 With-
draw from Paris The Regent Resolves to Announce Publicly
the Approaching Marriage of the King Disaffection of the
Princes Frankness of the Due de Guise The Due d'Epernon
is Recalled The Due 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 Due de Mayenne is Appointed Ambassa-
dor 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 Mar-
riage An Ambassador and a Quasi-Queen Disappointment
of the Princes They Again Withdraw Caution of the Due
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 Mar-
quise d'Ancre A Carousal Splendid Festivities Arrival of
the Spanish Envoys The Chevalier de Guise Alarm of Con-
cini The Queen and Her Foster-Sister Concini Resolves to
Espouse the Party of the Princes The Due de Bouillon En-
deavours to Injure the Due 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 Due de Vendome Solicits the Royal Permission to
Preside Over the States of Brittany Is Refused by the
Regent Challenges His Substitute And is Exiled to Anet

x Contents

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 Due de Guise He
Reveals the Treachery of Concini to the Princes All the
Great Nobles Join the Faction of M. de Conde with the Ex-
ception of the Due d'Epernon The Due de Bellegarde is Ac-
cused 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 Due 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 Due
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 Ambassador
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 Organises a
New Faction The Regent Espouses His Views Alarm of
the Guises Recall of the Due 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 131

CHAPTER V

1613

State of France at the Commencement of 1613 Characteristics of
the Baron de Luz His Imprudence He is Challenged by the

Contents xi

Chevalier de Guise, and Killed The Regent Summons a
Council The Nobles Assemble at the Hotel de Guise The
Duke is Forbidden to Enter the Louvre, and Ordered to Dis-
perse His Friends M. de la Rochefoucauld Refuses to Leave
the Hotel de Guise He is Exiled from the Court Moderation
of the Due de Guise Inflexibility of Marie de Medicis Her
Anger Against the Chancellor She Holds a Secret Council
The Prince de Conde is Directed to Demand the Seals from M.
de Sillery, and to Command Him to Retire from the Capital
Marie Determines to Arrest the Due d'Epernon Her Designs
are Thwarted by Concini The Marquis d'Ancre Introduces the
Son of M. de Luz to the Regent Marie Promises Him Her Pro-
tection Bassompierre Endeavours to Effect the Recall of the
Due de Guise, and Succeeds His Reception by the Regent
Arrogance of the Duchesse de Guise The Prince de Cond6
Forms an Alliance with M. de Guise Influence of the Prince
He Demands the Captaincy of the Chateau Trompette
Overzealous Friends Alarm of the Queen She Resolves to
Conciliate the Guises The Marquis d'Ancre and His Wife
Incur the Displeasure of the Queen Marie Purchases the
Loyalty of the Due de Guise Dignified Bearing of the Due
d'Epernon A Reconciliation " Put not Your Faith in
Princes" Exultation of the Ministers A Private Audience
Eavesdroppers Mortification of the Prince de Conde
Concini Endeavours to Conciliate the Queen He is Repulsed
The Young Baron de Luz Challenges the Chevalier de
Guise Wounds His Adversary, and is Killed Royal Solici-
tude Death of the Chevalier de Guise Banquet at the Hotel
de Conde Affront to Bassompierre Concini Retires to Amiens
The Due de Venddme Joins the Faction of the Prince de
Conde A New Intrigue Suspicions of the Regent Midnight
Visitors The Prince de Conde and the Due de Vend6me Leave
the Court The Regent Refuses to Sanction the Departure of
M. de Guise The Queen and Her Favourite The Ministers
Pledge Themselves to Serve Concini Peril of Bassompierre
He Determines to Leave France Is Dissuaded from His
Purpose by the Regent Troubles in Mantua Negotiation with
the Duke of Savoy James I. Offers the Hand of Prince Charles
of England to the Princesse Christine Satisfaction of Marie de
Medicis The Pope Takes Alarm The Regent and the Papal

xii Contents

Nuncio Death of the Marshal de Fervaques Concini is
Made Marechal de France Ladies of Honour The Queen
and Her Foster-sister The Princesse de Conti A Well-timed
Visit The New Marechal A Sensation at Court - - -177

CHAPTER VI
1614

New Anxieties Disaffection of the Princes They Demand a
Reformation in the Government Cunning of the Due de
Bouillon Imprisonment of M. de Vendome He Escapes
The Regent Suspects the Sincerity of Bouillon Conspiracy of
the Dues de Vendome and de Retz The Due de Nevers Seizes
Mezieres Recall of M. d'Epernon Marie de Medicis Re-
solves to Resign the Regency, but is Dissuaded by Her
Council Treasonable Reports Precarious Position of the
Queen Levy of Troops Manifesto of the Prince de Conde
Reply of the Regent Death of the Connetable-Duc de Mont-
morency Bassompierre is Appointed Colonel-General of the
Swiss Guards The March Against M. de Conde Marie En-
deavours to Temporise The Price of Loyalty The Prince de
Conde Leaves Paris Christening of the Due d'Anjou and the
Princesse Henriette Marie A Temporary Calm The Dues de
Venddme and de Retz Excite the Burgundians to Revolt The
Protestants Refuse to Join Their Faction They are Compelled
to Lay Down Their Arms The Prince de Conde Marches
upon Poitiers The Church " Military "The Prelate and the
Populace A Governor Superseded The Prince is Compelled
to Withdraw to Chatellerault He Burns Down the Episcopal
Palace The Court Proceed to Poitou Their Reception The
Due de Vendome Makes His Submission The States Assemble
at Nantes Enormities Perpetrated by the Troops of M. de
Vendome Folly of That Prince Death of the Prince de
Conti A Bachelor-Benedict A Nom de Guerre Majority of
Louis XIII. The Bed of Justice The Assembly of the
States-General is Deferred The King Solicits His Mother to
Retain Her Authority in the Government Meeting of the
States The Early Years of Louis XIII. Charles Albert de
Luynes His Antecedents His Ambition His Favour with
the Young King He is Made Governor of Amboise - - 221

Contents xiii

CHAPTER VII
1615-16

Close of the States-General The Bishop of Lucon Declaration
of the Royal Marriages Ballet of Madame State of the
Court Cabal of Concini Death of Marguerite de Valois
Conde Seeks to Gain the Parliament Distrust of Marie de
Medicis Conde Leaves Paris He Refuses to Accompany the
King to Guienne Perilous Position of the Court Party The
Marechal de Bois-Dauphin is Appointed Commander-in-Chief
The Court Proceed to Guienne Illness of the Queen and
Madame Elisabeth The Court at Tours Enforced Inertness
of M. de Bois-Dauphin Condd is Declared Guilty of tise-
majest'e He Takes up Arms Murmurs of the Royal Generals
The Comte de St. Pol Makes His Submission The Court
Reach Bordeaux The Royal Marriages Sufferings of the
Troops Disaffection of the Nobility Irritation of the
Protestants Pasquinades Negotiation with the Princes
The Due de Guise Assumes the Command of the Royal
Army Singular Escape of Marie de Medicis Disgrace of the
Due d'Epernon He Retires to His Government The Queen
and the Astrologer 258

CHAPTER VIII
1616

Conference of Loudun Venality of the Princes Mutual Conces-
sions Indisposition of M. de Conde He Signs the Treaty
Concini is Insulted by a Citizen of Paris The Court Return to
the Capital Schism in the Cabal The Seals are Transferred
to M. du Vair Disgrace of the Ministers Triumph of Concini
Mangot is Appointed Secretary of State, and Barbin Minister
of Finance The Young Sovereigns Court Costumes Anne
of Austria and Marie de Medicis Puerility of Louis XIII.
The Mar6chal de Bouillon and the Due de Mayenne Return
to Court They Seek to Ruin Concini The Prince de Cond6
Effects a Reconciliation with the Queen-mother James I.
Sends an Embassy to Paris to Negotiate a Marriage Between
the Prince of Wales and the Princesse Christine Gorgeous
Reception at the Louvre Court Festivities Concini Returns

xiv Contents

to Paris He is Abandoned by the Prince de Cond6 He is
Compelled to Retire His Forebodings He Endeavours to
Induce Leonora to Leave France She Refuses Increasing
Influence of De Luynes Death of Mademoiselle d'Ancre
Despair of Concini Ambitious Projects of the Prince de Conde
Devotion of Sully His Advice is Disregarded Popularity
of Conde Marie de Medicis Resolves to Arrest Him He
Disbelieves the Rumour The Other Princes Withdraw from
the Capital The King is Induced to Sanction the Arrest
Dissimulation of Louis XIII. Arrest of Conde Fearless Re-
ply of M. du Vair The Prince is Conveyed to the Bastille
A Batch of Marshals Noble Disinterestedness of Bassom-
pierre The Dowager Princess of Conde Endeavours to Excite
the Populace to Rescue Her Son The Mob Pillage the Hotel
of the Marechal d'Ancre The Queen-mother Negotiates with
the Guises The Council of War The Seals are Transferred
from Du Vair to Mangot Richelieu is Appointed Secretary of
State Concini Returns to Court The Marechale d'Ancre Be-
comes Partially Insane Popular Execration of the Italian
Favourites Subtle Policy of Richelieu Threatening Attitude
Assumed by the Princes 283

CHAPTER IX
1617

The Royal Forces March Against the Insurgent Princes Indig-
nities Offered to the Young Sovereign Louis XIII. and His
Favourite Arrogance of the Marechal d'Ancre Indignation
of the King Confiscation of the Property of the Rebel Princes
Household of Louis XIII. Cabal of De Luynes Infatua-
tion of the Marechal d'Ancre An Evil Counsellor Marie de
Medicis Resolves to Withdraw from the Government, but is
Dissuaded from Her Purpose Popular Discontent Precau-
tions of Concini Alarm of Louis XIII. The Due de Nevers
is Declared Guilty of Itse-majest'e Firmness of the Queen-
mother Insolence of Concini and Richelieu Conde is Re-
fused Permission to Justify Himself Success of the Royal Forces
Louis XIII. Consents to the Arrest of the Marechal d'Ancre
Bassompierre Warns Marie de Medicis of Her Danger She
Disregards the Warning Concini and Leonora Prepare to

Contents xv

Leave France Old Grievances Renewed A Diplomatic Janus
Blindness of Marie and Her Ministers A New Conspirator
How to be Made a Marshal Incaution of De Luynes
Treachery of Richelieu A Narrow Escape A Morning Mass
Singular Position of the Court Assassination of Concini
Public Rejoicings Imprisonment of the Queen-mother
Barbin is Sent to the Bastille The Seals are Restored to Du
Vair A Royal Reception Anguish of Marie de Medicis
She Demands to See the King, and is Refused Her Isolation
A Queen and Her Favourite A Mother and Her Son
Arrest of Madame d'Ancre The Crown Jewels Political
Pillage The Marechale in the Bastille - - - . - 331

CHAPTER X
1617

The Comte de la Pena Anne of Austria and the Orphan Popular
Atrocities The Wages of Crime Submission of the Due de
Mayenne Suspension of Hostilities The Great Nobles Re-
turn to the Capital Louis Refuses to be Reconciled with His
Mother Insolence of De Vitry Generosity of the Due de
Rohan Marie de Medicis Resolves to Retire from the Court
Richelieu Offers to Share Her Exile He Becomes the Secret
Emissary of De Luynes Gratitude of the Deluded Queen
A Parting Interview Marie de Medicis Proceeds to Blois
Destitution of the Marechale d'Ancre Her Despair Royal
Recreations A Fatal Parallel Madame de Conde Requests
Permission to Share the Captivity of Her Husband Trial of
Madame d'Ancre Her Execution Cupidity of De Luynes
Justice of the Grand Duke of Tuscany Death of the President
de Thou Marriage of De Luynes with Mademoiselle de Mont-
bazon De Luynes is Created Duke and Peer Death of M.
de Villeroy Recall of the Old Ministers Policy of De Luynes
His Suspiciousness His Ambition De Luynes Lodges His
Brothers in the Louvre The Sign of " The Three Kings "
Louis Resolves to Reestablish the Roman Catholic Religion in
Beam, and to Annex That Principality to the Crown of France
Meeting of the Notables at Rouen The French March to
the Support of the Duke of Savoy 376

BIOGRAPHICAL NOTES

TO

THE SECOND VOLUME

PAGE

Duchesse de Sully . . 6
Marechal de Brissac . .16
Cardinal Bentivoglio . 26
M. de Souvre . . .30
Stefano Galigai . . 31
M. de Thou ... 36
M. Arnaud . . .40
Pere Cotton . . .40
Henri II. Due de Longue-

ville . . . .44
Duque de Feria . . 47
Marechal de la Chatre . 68
Due d'Elbceuf ... 77
M. de Chateauvieux . . 93
Marquis de Chateauneuf . 93
Marquis de Rambouillet . 117
Cardinal de Gonzaga . 121
M. de Breves . . .124
M. de Brosse . . .129
Comte de Buquoy . .150
Don Rodrigo Calderon . 150
Chevalier de Guise . .150
Due de Luxembourg-Piney 166
Cardinal de Gondy . .167
Cosmo, Grand Duke of

Tuscany . . .171
Due de la Rochefoucauld . 182
Due de Retz . . . 224

Bishop of Saintes
M. de Verdun .
M. de Servin .
Comte de Brienne

PAGE
. 241

243

243

245

Baron du Pont-Saint-Pierre 246
M. Miron .... 246

M. Le Fevre . . .248

M. de Rivault . . .248

Comte de Laval . . 248

Cardinal de Richelieu . 258
M. Le Jay ... 267

Comte de Saint-Pol . . 270

Duque d'Usseda . .271

M. Man got . . .291

M. de Puisieux . .291

M. Barbin . . . 291

Madame de Motteville . 291

Marquis de Themines . 307

M. de Saint-Geran . -314

M. Deageant . . .336

Marechal de Schomberg . 340

Marechal d'Ornano . .361

Marquis de Bressieux . 366

M. de Rouvray . . 370

Comte de Fiesque . 377

Jean Goujon . . . 387

Mile, de Montbazon . . 402

BOOK II
MARIE DE MEDICIS AS REGENT

THE LIFE

OF

MARIE DE MEDICIS

CHAPTER I
1610

Self-possession of Marie de Medicis The Dues de Guise and d'Eper-
non Assemble the Nobility Precautions for the Security of the
Metropolis The First Audience of the Widowed Queen Impolicy
of Sully The Due d'Epernon Announces to the Parliament the
Authorised Regency of Marie By Whom it is Ratified Precarious
Position of the Queen-mother The First Night of Widowhood
Injudicious Apathy of Marie de Medicis on the Subject of Her
Husband's Murder Her Incautious Display of Favour Towards
the Due d'Epernon The Duke is Suspected of Having Been an
Accessory to the Assassination of Henri IV. He Demands the
Punishment of the Authors of the Rumour A Lawyer and a Cour-
tier Fearless Reply of the President de Harlay to the Rebuke of
the Regent Suspicions Against Philip of Spain Louis XIII.
Holds His First Bed of Justice The Queen Requests the Support
of the Parliament Return of the Court to the Louvre The Due
de Sully Visits the Queen Effect of His Reception The Princess-
Dowager of Cond6 Urges the Return of Her Son to Court M. de
Soissons is Invited by Marie de Medicis to the Capital His Disap-
pointment His Arrogance A Courtly Falsehood Reception of
M. de Soissons at the Gates of Paris His Numerous Retinue The

4 The Life of

Recompense of Obedience Congratulatory Deputations Trial of
the Regicide Ravaillac His Execution Arrival of the Due de
Bouillon in Paris His Quarrel with the Due de Sully They are
Reconciled The Court Attend a Funeral Service at Notre-Dame
Presumption of the Due d'Epernon Marie de Medicis Devotes
Herself to State Affairs Jealousy of the Princes of the Blood and
Great Nobles Marie Endeavours to Conciliate Them The Span-
ish Minister Endeavours to Prevent the Return of the Prince de
Conde Without Success The Regent Forms a Council Preten-
sions of the Nobles The Due d'Epernon Takes Possession of
Apartments in the Louvre He Leagues with the Comte de Sois-
sons Against the Prince de Conde Speculations of the Ministers
Their Policy Boyhood of Louis XIII. A Delicate Position A
Royal Rebuke Court Favour The Visionary Government Dis-
content of the Citizens of Paris Unpopularity of the Regent The
Ex-Queen's Entertainment Imprudence of Marie de Medicis
Confirmation of the Edict of Nantes Return of the Prince de
Conde The Regent is Alarmed by His Popularity Double-dealing
of the Due d'Epernon The Prince de Conde Declares His Inten-
tion to Uphold the Interests of the Regent His Reception at the
Louvre He Rejoins His Wife The Court of the Hotel de Conde
A Cabal Marie is Advised to Arrest the Prince de Conde She
Refuses The Secret Council Indignation of Sully Mischievous
Advice of the Due de Bouillon Munificence of the Regent to M.
de Conde The Royal Treasury Venality of the French Princes
The English Ambassador Royal Pledges Philip of Spain Pro-
poses a Double Alliance with France The Regent Welcomes the
Offer Policy of PhilipThe Secret Pledge Madame de Verneuil
Urges Her Claim to the Hand of the Due de Guise The Important
Document A Ducal Dilemma The Regent Discountenances the
Claim of the Marquise Madame de Verneuil is Induced by Jean,
nin to Withdraw Her Pretensions Her Subsequent Obscurity.

THE news of the King's decease had no sooner
been communicated to Marie de Medicis than,
profiting by the advice of the Chancellor, she made a
violent attempt at composure ; and although still with
streaming eyes and ill-suppressed sobs, she gave her
assent to the suggestions of her councillors. The Dues

Marie De Medicis 5

de Guise and d'Epernon were instructed to mount upon
the instant, and to assemble as many of the nobles as
were within reach, whom they were to accompany
through the streets of the city, declaring upon their
way that the King was not dead, although grievously
wounded ; the city gates were ordered to be closed,
the keys delivered to the lieutenant of police, and strict
commands issued to prevent all gatherings of the popu-
lace in the thoroughfares ; while the guards who were
distributed through the faubourgs were hastily concen-
trated in the environs of the Parliament, in order,
should such a measure become necessary, to enforce
the recognition of the Queen as Regent of the kingdom.

These arrangements made, MM. de Guise, d'Eper-
non, de Villeroy, and de Lavardin demanded an audi-
ence of the august widow, at which, kneeling before
her, they kissed her hand, and assured her of their un-
alterable devotion. Their example was imitated by all
the great nobles of the Court, with the sole exception
of the Due de Sully, who was encountered by Bassom-
pierre in the Rue St. Antoine, accompanied by about
forty mounted followers, and evidently in a state of in-
tense agitation. " Gentlemen," he exclaimed, as the
two parties met, " if the loyalty which you each vowed
to the monarch whom we have just been unhappy
enough to lose is as deeply impressed upon your hearts
as it should be upon those of all faithful Frenchmen,
swear at this precise moment to preserve the same
fidelity towards the King his son and successor, and
that you will employ your blood and your life to
avenge him."

" Sir," haughtily replied Bassompierre, who had

6 The Life of

probably more deeply mourned the death of his royal
master and friend than any other individual of the
Court, and who was consequently revolted by the im-
perious tone of this address, " it is we who have been
enjoined to enforce this oath upon others, and we do
not need any exhortations to do our duty."

Sully regarded the speaker gloomily for an instant,
and then, as though overcome by some sudden appre-
hension, he coldly saluted the group of nobles, and re-
traced his steps to the Bastille, where he forthwith
closed the gates; having previously, on his way
thither, caused his attendants to carry off all the bread
which they could collect either in the shops or markets.
He, moreover, no sooner thus found himself in safety
than he despatched a courier to his son-in-law, the Due
de Rohan, who was with the army in Champagne at
the head of six thousand Switzers, desiring him to
march straight upon Paris ; an indiscretion which he
was subsequently destined to expiate, from the heavy
suspicion which it necessarily entailed upon him.
Vainly did MM. de Praslin and de Crequy, who were
sent to summon him to the presence of the young
King, endeavour to induce him to lose no time in
presenting himself at the Louvre ; the only concession
which he could be prevailed upon to make, was to de-
sire the Duchess, his wife,* to hasten to the palace, and

* Madame de Sully, the second wife of the Duke, was Rachel de
Gochefilet, the daughter of Jacques, Seigneur de Vaucelas, and of
Marie d'Arbalete. She was first married to Francois Hurault, Sieur
de Chateau pers et du Marais, who died in 1590. She survived the
Due de Sully, and died in 1659, at the age of ninety-three years. The
arrogance of this lady was so notorious that it became the subject of
one of those biting epigrams for which Henri IV. had rendered him-
self famous ; for it is on record that upon an occasion when he was a

Marie De Medicis 7

to offer to the Regent and her son his sincere condo-
lence upon their irreparable misfortune. *

The Due d'Epernon, after having stationed the
guards at the palace, was instructed by the Queen to
proceed at once to the Parliament, which was then as-
sembled, and to inform its member that her Majesty
had in her possession a decree signed and sealed by the
late King, conferring upon herself the regency of the
kingdom during the minority of her son ; entreating
them at once to ratify the appointment in order to en-
sure the public tranquillity. She also privately
despatched a messenger to the President de Harlay,
whom she knew to be attached to her interests, and to
be at once able and zealous, to instruct him to assemble
the Court without delay, and to use all his influence to
enforce her rights. De Harlay, who on receipt of her
message was confined to his bed by gout, immediately
caused himself to be dressed, and proceeded in a chair
to the Augustine monastery ; where he had scarcely
arrived when the Due d'Epernon entered the hall, and
declared the will of the late King, and the confidence
felt by the Queen that the Parliament would, without
repugnance, recognise her right to the dignity thus
conferred upon her.f This they immediately did ; and

guest at the table of the finance minister, he drank her health, ac-
companied by the following impromptu :

" Je bois & toi, Sully ;

Mais j'ai failli ;

Je devois dire a vous, adorable Duchesse,
Pour boire a vos appas
Faut mettre chapeau bas."

Dictionnaire des Hommes Illustres.
* Bassompierre, Mem. p. 72.
f Richelieu, Hist, de la Mtre et du Fils, vol. i. p. 55.

8 The Life of

owing to the absence of the Prince de Conde and the
Comte de Soissons, both of whom aspired to the high
office about to be filled by Marie de Medicis, without
the slightest opposition or disturbance.

This happy intelligence was conveyed to the Queen
by M. d'Epernon, who returned to the palace accom-
panied by one of the members of the Parliament, when
the latter, after having been presented to his royal
mistress, on whose right hand sat the young King be-
wildered by what was passing about him, bent his
knee before their Majesties, and tendered to Marie a
scroll, which having been returned by her to the
accredited envoy of the supreme court, was read
aloud as follows :

"THE ATTORNEY-GENERAL, having represented to
the Parliament in full assembly that the king having
just expired by the act of a most cruel, most inhuman,
and most detestable regicide committed upon his sa-
cred person, it became necessary to provide for the
safety of the reigning monarch and of his kingdom,
required that an order should be promptly issued con-
cerning his safety and that of the state, which could
only be ruled and governed by the Queen during the
minority of the said Lord her son ; and that it should
please the said Court to proclaim her Regent, in order
that it might, through her, administer the affairs of
the realm ;

be subject bavtncj been fculg considered, the said
Court declared, and still declares, the said Queen, the
King's mother, Regent of France, to be entrusted
with the administration of all matters of state during

Marie De Medicis 9

the minority of the said Lord her son, with all power
and authority.

" Done in Parliament, this I4th of May, 1610.

(Signed) " Du TILLET." *

During the course of the day guards had been sent
to the residence of the several foreign ambassadors, in
order to protect them from the violence of the popu-
lace, and especially to that of the Spanish minister,
who was peculiarly obnoxious to the Parisians. The
governors of provinces and fortresses who chanced to
be at that moment sojourning in the capital were
ordered to repair without delay to their several com-
mands, to maintain tranquillity within their separate
jurisdictions ; and, save the audible lamentations which
throughout the night broke the silence of the mourning
city, all was calm and quiet, except in the immediate
neighbourhood of the Augustine monastery, where the
Attorney-General had authorised the workmen to pre-
pare the great hall for the reception of the young King,
and where the necessary preparations for his presence
on the following day were continued until dawn.f

The parliamentary envoy having quitted the palace,
and the crowd of nobles, by whom its spacious halls
and galleries had been filled, having retired, Marie was
at length left at liberty to indulge her grief, rendered
only the more poignant from the constraint to which
she had been so long subjected. Her first impulse was
to command that the bed of the young sovereign should

* Extracted from the Parliamentary Registers in the Memoirs of
Phelipeaux de Pontchartrain, Secretary of the Orders of Marie de
Medicis.

f L'Etoile, vol. iv. p. 49. '

io The Life of

be removed to her own chamber, and this done, she
abandoned herself to all the bitterness of her sorrow.

She had, indeed, legitimate cause for tears. With
a son still almost a child, ambitious nobles jealous of
her power, and a great nation looking towards herself
for support and consolation, she might well shrink as
she contemplated the arduous task which had so sud-
denly devolved upon her. Moreover, death is the
moral crucible which cleanses from all dross the mem-
ories of those who are submitted to its unerring test ;
and in such an hour she could not but forget the faults
of the husband in dwelling upon the greatness of the
monarch. Who, then, shall venture to follow her
through the reveries of that fatal night ? Who shall
dare, unrebuked, to assert that the ambition of the
woman quenched the affection of the wife? or that
Marie, in the excess of her self-gratulation, forgot the
price at which her delegated greatness had been pur-
chased? That some have been found bold enough to
do this says little for their innate knowledge of human
nature. The presence of death and the stillness of
night are fearful chasteners of worldly pride, and with
these the daughter of the Medici was called upon to
contend. Her position demanded mercy at the hands
of her historians, and should not have sought it in vain.

From one reproach it is, however, impossible to ex-
onerate her, and that one was the repugnance which
she evinced to encourage any investigation into the
real influence under which Ravaillac had committed
the murder of the King. In vain did she receive com-
munications involving individuals who were openly
named ; she discouraged every* report ; and although

Marie De Medicis 1 1

among these the Due d'Epernon made a conspicuous
figure, she treated the accusation with indifference,
and continued to display towards him an amount of
confidence and favour to which he had never pre-
viously attained.

Indignant at this extraordinary supineness, the
President de Harlay only increased his own efforts to
unravel so painful a mystery; and refusing all cre-
dence to the assertion of the regicide that he had been
self-prompted an assertion to which he had perse-
veringly adhered amid torture, and even unto death,
with a firmness truly marvellous under the circum-
stances the zealous magistrate carefully examined
every document that was laid before him, and interro-
gated their authors with a pertinacity which created
great alarm among the accused parties, of whom none
were so prominent as Madame de Verneuil and the
Due d'Epernon.

The latter, indeed, considered it expedient to wait
upon the commissioners appointed by the Parliament
to investigate these reports, in order to urge the con-
demnation of their authors ; these being, as he asserted,
not only guilty of defaming innocent persons, but also
of exciting a dangerous feeling among the people, at all
times too anxious to seek the disgrace and ruin of their
superiors. He found, however, little sympathy among
those whom he sought to conciliate ; and on addressing
himself to the President, whom he entreated to inform
him of the details of the accusation made against himself,
that magistrate, without any effort to disguise his feeling
of repulsion towards the applicant, coldly replied, " I
am, Sir, not your prosecutor, but your judge."

12 The Life of

" I ask this of you as my friend," was the retort of
the Duke.

" I have no friend," said the uncompromising minis-
ter. " I shall do you justice, and with that you must
content yourself."

So uncourteous a reception excited the indignation
of M. d'Epernon, who forthwith hastened to the
Louvre to complain to the Regent of the insult to
which he had been subjected; and Marie had no
sooner been apprised of the affair than, with a want of
caution highly detrimental to her own reputation, she de-
spatched a nobleman of her household to M. de Harlay,
to inform him that she had just learnt with extreme
regret that he had failed in respect to the Duke, and
that she must request that in future he would exhibit
more deference towards a person of his quality and merit.
This somewhat abrupt injunction, addressed to the first
magistrate of the kingdom, and under circumstances so
peculiar, only tended, however, to arouse M. de Harlay
to an assumption of the dignity attached to his office,
and he replied with haughty severity to the individual
who had been charged with the royal message :

" During fifty years I have been a judge, and for the
last thirty I have had the honour to be the head of the
sovereign Court of Peers of this kingdom ; and I never
before have seen either duke, lord, or peer, or any
other man whatever might be his quality, accused of
the crime of lese-majest'e, as M. d'Epernon now is, who
came into the presence of his judges booted and
spurred, and wearing his sword at his side. Do not
fail to tell the Queen this." *

* Mtm. pour VHist. de France , vol. ii. p. 359.

Marie De Medicis 13

So marked an exhibition of the opinion entertained
by the Parliament on the subject of the complicity of
the Duke in the crime then under investigation, did not
fail to produce a powerful effect upon all to whom it
became known, but it nevertheless failed to shake the
confidence of Marie de Medicis in the innocence of a
courtier who had, in the short space of a few days, by
his energy and devotion, rendered himself essential to
her ; while thus much must be admitted in extenuation
of her conduct, reprehensible as it appeared, that every
rumour relative to the death of her royal consort im-
mediately reached her, and that two of these especially
appeared more credible than the guilt of a noble, who
could, apparently, reap no benefit from the commission
of so foul and dangerous a crime. In the first place,
the Spanish Cabinet had been long labouring to under-
mine the power of France, in which they had failed
through the energy and wisdom of the late King,
whose opposition to the alliance which they had pro-
posed between the Dauphin and their own Infanta
had, moreover, wounded their pride, and disappointed
their projects ; and there were not wanting many who
accused the agents of Philip of having instigated the
assassination ; while another rumour, less generally dis-
seminated, ascribed the act of Ravaillac to the impulse
of personal revenge, elicited by the circumstance that
Henry had first dishonoured and subsequently aban-
doned a sister to whom he was devotedly attached.

That M. d'Epernon was politic enough to impress
upon the mind of the Queen the extreme probability
of either or both of these facts, there can be little
doubt, as it would appear from the testimony of several

14 The Life of

witnesses that the intention of the murderer was known
for some time before the act was committed; and
nothing could be more rational than the belief that if
the agents of Spain were indeed seeking to secure a
trusty tool for the execution of so dark a deed, they
would rather entrust it to one who could by the same
means satiate his own thirst for private revenge, than
to a mere bravo who perilled life and salvation simply
from the greed of gain.

Day by day, moreover, the ministers were over-
whelmed by accusations which pointed at different
individuals. Those who had opposed the return of
the Jesuits to France openly declared that they were
the actual assassins ; while even in the provinces several
persons were arrested who had predicted before its oc-
currence the death of the King, and the means by
which it was to be accomplished ; and finally the affair
became so involved that, with the exception of the
woman De Comans to whom allusion has been elsewhere
made, and who was condemned to imprisonment for life,
all the suspected persons were finally acquitted.*

At eight o'clock on the morning succeeding the as-
sassination of the King all the members of the different
Chambers assembled in their scarlet robes and capes,
the presidents wearing their cloaks and mortar-shaped
caps ; and half an hour afterwards the Chancellor, ac-
companied by several masters of the Court of Requests,
and dressed from head to foot in black velvet, took his
place below the First President in the great hall of the
Augustine monastery, where the young King was to
hold his Bed of Justice, the ordinary place of meeting be-

* Mercure Franfais, 1611, p. 17.

Marie De Medicis 15

ing still encumbered with the costly preparations which
had been made for the state-reception of the Queen.
This ceremonial was essential to the legal tenure of the
regency by his mother, which required the ratification
of the sovereign ; and his assent in the presence of his
princes, dukes, peers, and officers of the Crown, to her
assumption of entire and complete control over his own
education, and the administration of the government
during his minority, as well as his approval of the decree
delivered on the previous day by the Parliament.*

Then arrived in rapid succession the Due de Ma-
yenne, the Connetable de Montmorency, the cardinals,
prelates, and other great dignitaries ; who were finally
succeeded by the King himself, habited in a suit of
violet velvet, and surrounded and followed by a numer-
ous retinue of princes, dukes, nobles, and high officers
of the Court. Louis himself was mounted on a white
palfrey, but all the members of his suite, whatever
their rank, were on foot. The Queen came next in
her coach, attended by the Princesses of the Blood and
the other great ladies of her household ; not as she had
anticipated only two days previously, blazing with
jewels and clad in royal robes, but covered with an
ample mourning drapery of black crape.

The necessary ceremonies having been observed, the
King at length took his place upon the Bed of Justice,
having the Queen upon his right hand ; while below
their Majesties were seated the Prince de Conti, the
Comte d'Enghien, who represented his father, M. de
Soissons, the Due de Guise, the Due de Montmorency,
the Due d'Epernon, the Due de Sully, all peers of

* Richelieu, Hist, de la Mtre et du Fils % vol. i. p. 56.

1 6 The Life of

France, and the Marechaux de Brissac,* de Lavardin,
and de Bois-Dauphin ; f while the other dignitaries of
the State and Church were arranged upon either hand
of the young monarch, and the body of the hall was
occupied by the members of the several Courts.

When all had taken their places, and silence was
restored, the Queen, rising from her seat, and throwing
back her veil, proceeded to address the assembly, but
for a time her voice was inaudible, and choked with
sobs. At length, however, she mastered her emotion,
and with a gesture full of mournful dignity, she besought
all present to continue to her son and to herself the
same loyalty and devotion which they had exhibited
towards the monarch of whom the state had been so
cruelly bereft; assuring them that it should be her
study to induce the King to be guided by their coun-
sels in all things, and imploring of them to afford him
such advice as should on all occasions be compatible
with his own dignity and the welfare of the country
over which he was called upon to rule.

Short as was this harangue, it was not without con-
siderable difficulty that she accomplished its utterance.
More than once, suffocated by her grief, she was com-
pelled to pause until she could regain her voice ; and
when at its close she drew her veil once more over her

* Charles de Cosse, Comte de Brissac, Governor of Paris, in the
year 1594 delivered up that city to Henri IV., by whom he was on
that occasion raised to the dignity of Marshal of France. In 1626
Louis XIII. erected his estate into a duchy-peerage, and in the fol-
lowing year he died Due de Brissac.

f Urbain de Laval, Marquis de Bois-Dauphin, was one of the four
Marshals of France created by the Due de Mayenne whose rank was
subsequently confirmed by Henri IV. He was one of the original
chiefs of the League.

Marie De Medicis 17

head, and prepared to leave the hall, the assembly rose
simultaneously, and implored of her to honour the
meeting by her presence until it should be dissolved.
Exhausted and wretched, Marie strove to utter her
thanks, and to retire ; but the opposition offered to this
resolution was so great and so unanimous that she was
at length prevailed upon to resume her seat ; and she had
no sooner done so than Louis, raising for a moment the
cap from his head, in his turn addressed the Court.

The reply of the Chancellor was pregnant with
wisdom and loyalty ; in it he assured the King of the
fidelity and devotion of all ranks of his subjects, and
confirmed the Queen in her regency ; after which the
Attorney-General having spoken at great length to
the same effect, the royal and august personages rose
and returned to the Louvre in the same order as they
had observed on their arrival, followed throughout the
whole distance by the acclamations of the citizens, and
reiterated cries of " Vive le Roi ! " *

An hour or two subsequently Marie de Medicis
accorded an audience to the Due de Sully, who had,
with considerable difficulty, been induced by M. de
Guise to present himself at the palace, to offer his
condolences to the young sovereign and his august
mother ; | and he was accordingly introduced into the
private apartment of the Queen, where he found her
surrounded by the ladies of her household, and ab-
sorbed in grief. As he was announced she burst into a
passion of tears, and for a time was unable to welcome
him ; but having at length succeeded in controlling her

* Matthieu, Hist, des Dernier s Troubles, 1610, pp. 446-453.
| Bassompierre, Mem. p. 72.

1 8 The Life of

emotion, she desired that the King should be brought
to her; and he had no sooner appeared than she
pointed out to him the Due de Sully, when the young
monarch threw himself into his arms, and loaded him
with the most affectionate caresses.

" You do well, my son," sobbed Marie, as she re-
marked the emotion of the boy ; " you must love M.
de Sully, who was one of the best and most faithful
servants of the King your father, and who will, I trust,
continue to serve you with the same zeal." *

The interview was a lengthy one, and the urbanity
of the Queen produced so powerful an effect upon the
mind of the finance minister that he ceased to apprehend
any diminution of his influence, and accordingly sent to
countermand the return of the Due de Rohan, who had
already advanced a day's march towards the capital.f

Meanwhile the Dowager-Princesse de Conde had
hastened to inform her son of the assassination of the
King, and to urge his instant return to the capital ; a
summons to which he replied by forwarding letters of
condolence both to the King and the Regent, contain-
ing the most earnest assurances of his loyalty and de-
votion alike to their personal interests and to those of
the nation ; and declaring that he only awaited their
commands to return to Court, in order to serve them
in any manner which they might see fit to suggest.

The Comte de Soissons, who had left Paris only a
few days before the coronation of the Queen, for the
reason elsewhere stated, and who had retired to his
estate near Chartres, was invited by a messenger
despatched by Marie to return without delay to the

* Sully, Mini. vol. viii. p. 30. f Bassompierre, Mhn. p. 72.

Marie De Medicis 19

capital, where the interests of the state required his
presence. This command he prepared to obey with
alacrity; but his zeal was greatly damped when, on
arriving at St. Cloud, he ascertained that the Queen
had been already recognised by the Parliament as
Regent of the kingdom, and that her dignity had been
publicly confirmed by the young sovereign. On first
receiving this intelligence his rage was without bounds ;
he even questioned the legality of an arrangement of
this description made without his sanction, he being,
during the absence of the Prince de Conde, the first
subject in France after the Queen herself; and then,
moderating the violence of his expressions, he com-
plahied that by the precipitation of the Parliament, he
had been deprived of the privilege of signifying his
assent to the nomination, as he had previously pledged
himself to do. He next questioned the right of the
Parliament to interfere in so important a measure;
declaring that their fiat was null and void, as the
Chambers had no authority to organise a government,
and still less to appoint a regency, which could only
be effectively done by a royal testament, a declaration
made before death, or by an assembly of the States-
General. He, moreover, insisted that the case was
without precedent ; that the power of the Parliament
was restricted to the administration of justice ; and
that while it was desirable that the mothers of princes,
heirs to the throne, should be entrusted with the care
of their education, the government of the country
belonged by right to the Princes of the Blood, to the
exclusion of all other claimants.*

* Richelieu, Hist, de la Mtre et du Fits, vol. i. pp. 57-59.

2O The Life of

Every effort was made to calm his anger ; and it is
probable that the representations of his personal friends
convinced him of the impolicy of further opposition ;
although he so long delayed his arrival in the capital
that he could only explain his tardiness by declaring
that the sudden intelligence of the King's murder had
so seriously affected his health that he was unable to
obey the summons of the Queen until the i6th of
May, when he was met at the gate of the city by the
Due d'Epernon, at the head of a large body of the
nobility.

The pomp in which he reached Paris, however,
sufficed to prove that he was totally unprepared for the
existing posture of affairs, and that he had taken every
precaution to enforce his claims, should he find the
public mind disposed to admit them. His retinue con-
sisted of three hundred horse, and he travelled with all
the pretensions of royalty. A few words, nevertheless,
sufficed to dispel the illusion under which he laboured,
and once convinced that the supreme authority of the
Queen had been both recognised and ratified, he had
no other alternative save to offer his submission ; which
he did, moreover, with so good a grace that Marie be-
stowed upon him, in token of welcome, the govern-
ment of Normandy, which had hitherto been held by
the Dauphin ; while a short time subsequently, when
he manifested fresh symptoms of discontent, the Due
de Bouillon was instructed to inquire by what means
he could be conciliated ; upon which he demanded a
pension of fifty thousand livres, the reversion of the
government of Dauphiny for his son, who had not at
that time attained his fifth year, and the sum of two

Marie De Medicis 21

hundred thousand crowns with which to pay a debt to
the Duke of Savoy, contracted on the duchy of Mon-
calieri belonging to his wife. These exorbitant claims
were at once admitted, and M. de Soissons forthwith
declared himself the firm ally of the Queen.*

All the cities and provinces of the kingdom ha-
stened to despatch deputations to the capital, to present
their assurances of respectful homage to the young
sovereign, and to recognise the regency of his mother ;
and these were shortly afterwards succeeded by the
plenipotentiaries and envoys of the different European
states, whose condolences and congratulations were
graciously acknowledged by Marie and her ministers
in the name of the new monarch.

On the 1 8th of the month the regicide Ravaillac was
put upon his trial, during which he exhibited a stoical
indifference that filled his judges with astonishment.
Far from seeking to evade the penalty of his crime,
he admitted it with a calmness and composure per-
fectly unshaken ; and on the 2/th his sentence was pro-
nounced and executed with such barbarity that we shall
avoid the detail.

On the following day the Due de Bouillon arrived
in Paris, and proceeded directly to the palace to kiss
the hand of the Queen-Regent and take the oath of
fidelity to the King, by both of whom he was warmly
welcomed ; Marie being anxious to rally about her all
the high nobility, especially such as had formerly
exhibited symptoms of discontent. M. de Bouillon
had not, however, been long in the capital when a
quarrel arose between himself and the Due de Sully,

* Richelieu, Hist, de la Mtre et du Fils, vol. i. pp. 83, 84.

22 The Life of

whom he accused of arrogance and presumption, re-
minding him that he had not always been in the
exalted position which he then occupied, while as
regarded himself, he was born to higher fortunes than
he had yet attained. The anger of both parties was so
much excited during the interview, that great appre-
hensions were entertained of the result of so serious a
misunderstanding ; nor was it until the Due de Guise
had exerted all his influence with both parties that a
partial reconciliation took place, which was subse-
quently completed through the good sense of the two
nobles themselves, who in their cooler moments re-
flected upon the injury which must accrue alike to the
national interests and to those of the reformed re-
ligion, of which they both were adherents, should they
permit their private feelings to interfere with their
public duties.

On the second day after the interment of the King
the Regent proceeded in state to Notre-Dame, in order
to assist at a solemn service which she had caused to
be celebrated for the repose of his soul. The cortege
consisted of seven coaches, containing herself, the
Princesses of the Blood, the Duchesses, and other great
ladies of her household, under a strong escort of guards
and harquebusiers, commanded by M. de la Chataign-
eraie. All the principal nobility, with the exception
of the Comte de Soissons, attended by their several
retainers, were already mounted when she descended
to the court of the palace, and were awaiting her with-
out the gates, when considerable excitement was
created by the Due d'Epernon, who, detaching him-
self from his followers, rode to the side of her carriage.

Marie De Medicis 23

As no Prince of the Blood had ever assumed this
privilege, not even the Guises, lofty as were their pre-
tensions, a general murmur arose among the assembled
nobles ; but M. d'Epernon, regardless of this demon-
stration of displeasure, and aware that he had already
obtained considerable influence over the mind of the
Queen, retained his position, to the extreme indigna-
tion of the other Princes.*

The Regent and her retinue first proceeded to the
Archbishop's palace, whence the procession was formed
to the cathedral. At its head walked the Princes of
the Blood then present at the Court, and the principal
nobles, with the exception of the Prince de Conti and
the Comte de Soissons, who supported the Queen,
whom they upheld by each placing a hand beneath
her arms. The Dowager Princess of Conde, the
Princesse de Conti, and the Comtesse de Soissons bore
her mourning train, which was seven French ells in
length; and after them came Madame and the ex-
Queen Marguerite, both habited in the deepest black ;
who were in their turn followed by all the great ladies
of the Court and household.f At the conclusion of
the service, the Regent returned to the Louvre ; and
in the afternoon, attended as she had been on the pre-
vious occasion, she proceeded to perform her devotions
in the church of St. Victor, amid the respectful saluta-
tions of the assembled populace.

The grief of the citizens still continued unabated,
but it was apparent that a struggle for preeminence
had already commenced among the higher class. The

* L'Etoile, vol. iv. p. 155.

f Mercure Franfais, 1610, vol. i. p. 492.

24 The Life of

Regent, whose affliction was as brief as it had been
violent, seemed suddenly endowed with a new nature.
Her ambition grew with her responsibility, and instead
of participating in political questions as she had previ-
ously done with undisguised reluctance, she entered
eagerly into public affairs, and sought earnestly to es-
tablish her authority; an attempt in which she was
seconded by the principal ministers of state, who at
once felt that by supporting her power they were con-
solidating their own.

M. de Conde, the first Prince of the Blood, was still
in Italy ; his brother the Prince de Conti, being totally
deaf and partially dumb, was incapable of government ;
the Comte de Soissons was at variance with both ; and
the Due de Nevers was commanding the army in
Champagne, until he should be superseded by the ar-
rival of the King in person, according to the arrange-
ment made by that unhappy monarch before the
departure of the troops from France ; while the Prince
de Joinville, who, it may be remembered, had been
banished from the Court for his intrigue with Madame
de Verneuil, and who had been travelling in England
and Germany, and afterwards retired to Lorraine until
his brother the Due de Guise should be enabled to pro-
cure his recall, was also absent. To each and all of
these Princes Marie, who at once felt the necessity of
their immediate presence in order to give dignity and
stability to her position, hastened to forward messen-
gers to request their instant return ; a summons which
was promptly obeyed by the Due de Nevers and all
the principal officers under his command, as well as by
M. de Joinville, who also received a pressing letter

Marie De Medicis 25

from the Due de Guise, enjoining him to profit without
delay by so admirable an opportunity of regaining his
forfeited favour. But whatever were the haste with
which all endeavoured to reach the Court, it still re-
quired time for them to do so ; * and meanwhile the
other great nobles were anxious to shake off the con-
trol to which they had been subjected during the
previous reign. Individual hatred came to the assist-
ance of personal ambition, and those whose talent
enabled them to acquire influence at Court began to
exercise it no less zealously in the ruin of others than
in their own aggrandisement.f

The Prince de Conde had no sooner forwarded to
the Queen the letter to which allusion has been already
made, than he received a pressing invitation to return
to France, for which purpose he prepared to leave
Milan ; a step so obnoxious to Spain that the Conde
de Fuentes spared no pains in dissuading him from its
adoption. He represented in earnest terms the excep-
tional position of the Prince, whose rank as the first
subject of the realm justified him in aspiring to a
throne filled by a mere boy, who could be considered
only as a puppet in the hands of an ambitious woman ;
following up his arguments by an offer of efficient aid
from his own monarch to enable M. de Conde to en-
force his pretensions ; and while he was thus endeav-
ouring to shake the loyalty of his guest, the Spanish
Ambassador at the Court of Rome was engaged with
equal zeal in seeking to impress the necessity of the
same policy upon Paul V. Both were, however, des-

* Matthieu, Hist, des Demurs Troubles, book iii. p. 454.
f Mem. de Henri, Due de Rohan, 6dit. Petitot.

26 The Life of

tined to fail in their efforts, the Sovereign-Pontiff de-
clining to interfere in so extreme a case, and the Prince
resolutely refusing to adopt the course thus treacher-
ously suggested.

At Brussels the persecution was renewed by the
Spanish minister, seconded by the Papal Nuncio, Car-
dinal Bentivoglio,* whose zeal for the interests of Spain
caused him to overlook the wishes of the Pope. All,
however, proved unavailing ; and the Prince, after a
brief sojourn in the Belgian capital, finally departed for
Paris ; whither his wife had previously repaired, accom-
panied by her stepsister the Comtesse d'Auvergne,
and where she had been warmly and honourably wel-
comed by the Queen.f

Meanwhile, it having been considered advisable that
the King should make a declaration on the Edicts of
Pacification, it became previously necessary to form a
council, under whose advice the Queen-Regent might
proceed to act. When preparing to quit France,
Henri IV. had drawn up a list of fifteen persons whom
he had selected for this purpose, and had decided that
every question should be determined by a majority of
votes, the Queen herself commanding only one vote ;
the death of the King had, however, unfortunately
tended to render the execution of his purpose impossi-

*The Cardinal Guido Bentivoglio, born in 1579, was descended
from an illustrious Bolognese family, who had formerly been the
sovereigns of that state, and had produced alike great warriors, re-
nowned poets, and celebrated prelates. He was himself a distin-
guished diplomatist and an able writer. Literature is indebted to his
pen for the History of the Civil Wars of Flanders, sundry Memoirs,
and a Narrative of Flanders. He died in 1644.

| Mem. de la Regence de Marie de Medicis, pp. 5-14. D'Estrees,
Mem., edition Michaud, pp. 375, 376.

Marie De Medicis 27

ble, all the Princes and great officers of the Crown as-
serting their right to admission, and resolutely main-
taining their claim.

The Comte de Soissons urged his privilege of birth,
and haughtily declined to advance any other plea;
while the Connetable de Montmorency loudly declared
that no council could legally be formed from which he
was excluded ; and the Cardinal de Joyeuse maintained
the same argument. As regarded the Guises, who
affected at this juncture a perfect equality with the
house of Bourbon, their eagerness to hold office de-
feated its own object, the Due de Mayenne and the
Due de Guise equally declaring their right to assist in
the government of the kingdom ; while it was consid-
ered as incompatible with the interests of the Crown
that two members of the same family should be ad-
mitted into so important an assembly. The Due de
Nevers, who disputed precedency with the Guises, also
came forward as a candidate ; while the Dues de
Bouillon and d'Epernon, who were at open feud, and
each ambitious of power, heightened the difficulty by
arrogantly asserting their personal claims. To receive
both was impossible, as from their known enmity noth-
ing but opposition could be anticipated ; and thus, upon
the threshold of her reign, Marie de Medicis found
herself trammelled by the very individuals from whom
she had hoped for assistance and support.

To select between the two last-mentioned nobles was
difficult as well as dangerous ; the position of M.
d'Epernon as colonel-general of the infantry, and his
immense possessions, rendering him a formidable ad-
versary ; while the Due de Bouillon was still more

28 The Life of

powerful from his occupation of Sedan, his intelligence
with foreign states, and his influence over his co-
religionists. Moreover, Marie was no longer in a
position to oppose the pretensions of the Due d'Eper-
non, even had she felt it expedient to do so ; the un-
limited confidence which she had reposed in him since
the death of her royal consort having invested him
with a factitious importance, by which he was enabled
to secure a strong party in his favour upon every ques-
tion in which he was personally interested. She had
assigned to his use a suite of apartments in the Louvre,
declaring that his continual presence and advice were
essential to her ; and, in addition to this signal favour,
she communicated to him the contents of all the des-
patches which she received, and followed his advice
upon all matters of state as implicitly as though she
considered it to be unanswerable.

His credit at Court was also greatly increased by the
Comte de Soissons, who, having ascertained the extent
of his favour with the Regent, spared no pains to se-
cure his friendship before the arrival of the Prince de
Conde, believing that the support of one who was all-
powerful for the moment might be of essential service
in counteracting the ambitious views of so formidable
a rival ; and, moreover, advantageous in assisting him
to accomplish the marriage of his son Louis de Bour-
bon with Mademoiselle de Montpensier, an alliance
which was the great object of his ambition.*

Thus the Due d'Epernon was not only powerful in
himself, but found his pretensions recognised and sanc-
tioned by a Prince of the Blood, an advantage of

* Hist, de la Vie du Due d'Epernon, pp. 248, 249.

Marie De Medicis 29

which he was not slow to appreciate the value ; and he
consequently listened to the expostulations which were
addressed to him by those who dreaded the effects of
his interference in state affairs with a quiet indiffer-
ence that satisfied them of their utter inutility.

But while the Queen was bewildered by these con-
flicting claims, her ministers, who were anxious to
retain the power in their own hands, were not dis-
pleased to see the number of candidates for place daily
increase. They were aware that on the arrival of the
Prince de Conde he must necessarily take his seat in
the council, while it would be equally impossible to
exclude the Comte de Soissons, the Due de Mont-
morency, or the Cardinal de Joyeuse ; and they felt
that nothing could more effectually limit the power of
these great dignitaries than the admission of so large a
number as must tend to diminish their influence over
the Queen, and to create a confusion in the manage-
ment of public affairs which would necessarily render
her more dependent upon their own wisdom and ex-
perience. Under this persuasion they consequently
impressed upon her the absolute necessity of satisfying
every claimant ; and a council was accordingly formed
which was more noisy than efficient ; and where, al-
though each was free to deliver his opinion, the min-
isters were careful, in their secret audiences of the
Queen, during which they exposed their own views
and sentiments, to carry out their preconceived
measures.*

The struggle which the late King had foretold be-

* Mem. de la Regence, pp. 6-8. Mezeray, vol. xi. pp. 7, 8. D'Es-
trees, Mem. p. 376.

30 The Life of

tween the Regent and her son had, meanwhile, already
commenced. The character of Louis XIII. was, from
his earliest boyhood, at once saturnine and obstinate ;
and thus, aware of the importance which the Queen
attached to the exercises of religion, he commenced
his predetermined opposition to her will by refusing to
observe them. Remonstrances and arguments were
alike unavailing ; the boy-King declined to listen to
either; and Marie ultimately commanded that he
should undergo the chastisement of the rod. The
order was given, but no one volunteered obedience ;
the vengeance of the man might hereafter compensate
for the mortification of the child; and the son of
Marie de Medicis, stolid and gloomy though he was,
had already imbibed a full sense of the respect due to
his sovereign rank.

" How now, M. de Souvre ! " * exclaimed the Queen ;
" is the frown of a wayward boy more dangerous than
the displeasure of a mother ? I insist that the King
shall undergo the chastisement which he has so richly
merited."

Thus urged, the unwilling governor was compelled
not only to lay his hands upon the sacred person of
royalty, but also to prepare to execute the peremptory
command of his irritated mistress; and the young
Louis no sooner perceived the impossibility of escape
than he coldly submitted to the infliction, merely say-
ing, " I suppose it must be so, M. de Souvre, since it is
the will of the Queen ; but be careful not to strike too
hard."

An hour or two afterwards, when he paid his usual

* M. de Souvre was the governor of Louis XIII.

Marie De Medicis 31

visit to the Regent, her Majesty rose on his entrance,
according to the established etiquette, and made him a
profound curtsey. " I should prefer, Madame," said
the young Prince, " fewer curtseys and fewer flog-
gings." *

At the commencement of June intelligence reached
the Court of the death of the Archbishop of Rouen,
the natural brother of the late King, and it was no
sooner authenticated than the Regent hastened to be-
stow his abbey of St. Florent upon M. de Souvre, and
that of Marmoutier, one of the most wealthy and
beautiful in France, upon the brother of her favourite
Leonora,t an unhappy being who was not only de-
formed in person, but so wholly deficient in intellect
that every effort even to teach him to read had proved
ineffectual. So abject was he, indeed, that Concini
had been careful never to allow him to come into con-
tact with Henri IV. lest he should be banished from
the Court ; and this ill-advised donation consequently
excited great disapprobation, and elicited fresh mur-
murs against the Italian followers of the Queen.

These were, moreover, augmented by another cir-
cumstance which immediately supervened. A report
was spread of the decease of M. de Boe'ce, the Gov-
ernor of Bourg-en-Bresse, a brave and faithful soldier,
who had rendered good service to his country ; and

* L'Etoile, vol. iv. pp. 97, 98.

f Stefano GaligaT, known from his extreme ugliness as " the baboon
of the Court." When he went to take possession of his abbey the
monks refused to receive him as their abbot, alleging that they had
been accustomed to be governed by princes, and not by carpenters like
himself, who had been seen to handle the plane and the saw. Stefano
Galigai withdrew into Italy after the execution of his relatives.

32 The Life of

the Queen, urged by her favourite, was imprudent
enough, without awaiting proper confirmation of the
rumour, to confer the government upon Concini, whose
arrogance, fostered as it was by the indulgence of his
royal mistress, was already becoming intolerable to the
native nobility. This fact was, however, no sooner
made known to M. de Boe'ce, who had not, as it subse-
quently appeared, even laboured under indisposition,
than he addressed a letter of respectful expostulation
to the Regent, in which he expressed his concern at
the necessity of interfering with the pleasure of her
Majesty in the rapid disposal of his government, and
assured her that he was still able and anxious to dis-
charge the duties of the trust confided to him by the
late King ; informing her, moreover, that he had in his
possession a grant from her royal husband, bestowing
the survivorship of his appointment upon his son, of
which he solicited the confirmation by herself, feeling
convinced that she could never be served by a more
zealous or able subject.*

Concini was accordingly divested of his government
as abruptly as he had acquired it ; reluctantly resign-
ing the coveted dignity amid the laughter and epigrams
of the whole Court.

In addition to these extraordinary instances of im-
prudence, Marie de Medicis had also compromised
herself with the people by the reluctance which she
evinced to investigate the circumstances connected
with the murder of her husband. Ravaillac had
suffered, as we have shown, and that too in the most
frightful manner, the consequences of his crime;

* L'Etoile, vol. iv. pp. 143, 144.

Marie De Medicis 33

persisting to the last in his assertion that he had
acted independently and had no accomplices ; but his
testimony, although signed in blood and torture, had
failed to convince the nation which had been so sud-
denly and cruelly bereft of its monarch ; and among
all classes sullen rumours were rife which involved
some of the highest and proudest in the land.*
Among these the Due d'Epernon, as already stated,
stood out so prominently that he had been compelled
to justify himself, while the favour which he had so
suddenly acquired turned the public attention towards
the Queen herself.

Suspicions of her complicity, however ill-founded,
had, indeed, existed even previously to this period, for
Rambure, when speaking of the visit of Sully to the
Louvre on the day after the assassination, a visit in
which he professes to have accompanied him, says
without any attempt at disguise, " The Queen received
us with great affability, and even mingled her tears
and sobs with ours, although we were both aware of
the satisfaction that she felt in being thus delivered
from the King, of whose death she was not considered
to be wholly guiltless, and of becoming her own abso-
lute mistress. . . . She then addressed several
other observations to the Duke, during which time he
wept bitterly, while she occasionally shed a few tears
of a very different description." f

These assertions, vague as they are, and utterly base-
less as they must be considered by all unprejudiced
minds, nevertheless suffice to prove that the ringer of

* Mezeray, vol. xi. p. 5.

f Rambure, unpublished Mem. vol. vi. pp. 44, 45.

34 The Life of

blame had already been pointed towards the unfortu-
nate Marie ; an unhappy circumstance which doubled
the difficulties of her position, and should have tended
to arouse her caution ; but the haughty and impetuous
nature of the Tuscan Princess could not bend to any
compromise, and thus she recklessly augmented the
amount of dislike which was growing up against her.

On the 8th of July the ex-Queen Marguerite gave
a magnificent entertainment to the Court at her beauti-
ful estate of Issy ; on her return from whence to the
capital, the Regent mounted a Spanish jennet, and,
surrounded by her guards, galloped at full speed to
the faubourg, where she dismounted and entered her
coach, still environed by armed men. As she had
her foot upon the step of the carriage, a poor woman
who stood among the crowd exclaimed with an earnest-
ness which elicited general attention, " Would to God,
Madame, that as much care had been taken of our
poor King ; we should not then be where we are ! "

The Queen paused for a moment, and turned pale ;
but immediately recovering her self-possession, she
took her seat, and bowed affably to her people. The
greeting on their part was, however, cold and reluctant.
They were still weeping over the bier of their mur-
dered sovereign, and they could not brook the apparent
levity with which his widow had already entered into
the idle gaieties of the Court.*

" Only five months after Henry's assassination," says
Rambure, " such of the nobles as were devoted to his
memory expressed among themselves their indignation
at the bearing of the Queen ; who, although com-

* L'Etoile, vol. iv. p. 157.

Marie De Medicis 35

pelled at intervals to assume some semblance of grief,
was more frequently to be seen with a smiling counte-
nance, and constantly followed the hunt on horseback,
attended by a suite of four or five hundred princes
and nobles." *

In order to avert all discontent among the people,
the ministers had induced the Regent not only to
diminish the duty upon salt, a boon for which they
were always grateful, but also to delay the enforce-
ment of several obnoxious commissions, and to revoke
no less than fifty-four edicts which had been issued for
the imposition of new taxes ; while presents in money
were made to the most influential of the Protestant
party, and the Edict of Nantes was confirmed.

Such was the state of the French Court on the re-
turn of the Prince de Conde, whose arrival had been
anxiously anticipated by his personal friends and ad-
herents, and strongly urged by the Regent herself; but
when she ascertained that a large body of nobles had
gone as far as Senlis to receive him, and that among
these were all the Princes of Lorraine, the Marechal de
Bouillon, and the Due de Sully, she became apprehen-
sive that a cabal was about to be formed against her
authority ; a suspicion which was augmented by the
regal state in which he entered the capital, attended
and followed by more than fifteen hundred individuals
of rank.

Her fears were, moreover, eagerly fostered by the
Comte de Soissons, the Due d'Epernon, and the Car-
dinal de Joyeuse, who, desirous of retaining the influ-
ence which they had already acquired, neglected no

* Rambure, MS. Mem. vol. vi. p. 79.

36 The Life of

method of arousing her jealousy against the first Prince
of the Blood. In pursuance of this purpose M. d'Eper-
non, to whom the safety of the city had been confided
during the first alarm created by the murder of the
King, no sooner learnt the approach of the Prince than
he doubled the guards at the different gates, and even
proposed to form garrisons in the avenues leading to
them; a circumstance which was immediately made
known to M. de Conde, who expressed great indigna-
tion at such an imputation upon his loyalty. This af-
front was, however, remedied by the able courtier, who,
being anxious to conciliate both parties, had no sooner
convinced the Queen of his zeal for her interests than
he proceeded, accompanied by a hundred mounted fol-
lowers, to welcome the Prince before he could reach
the city.

M. de Conde dined at Le Bourget, where he ex-
pressed his acknowledgments to the several nobles by
whom he was surrounded, and declared his intention
of upholding by every means in his power the dignity
and authority of the Regent. At the close of the re-
past he once more ordered his horses, and retraced his
steps as far as St. Denis, where he caused a mass to be
said for the soul of the deceased King, and aspersed
the royal coffin ; after which he proceeded direct to
Paris, receiving upon his way perpetual warnings not
to trust himself within the gates of the capital. He,
however, destroyed these anonymous communications
one after the other, and was rewarded by a note hastily
written by the President de Thou,* in' which he was

* Jacques Auguste de Thou was the representative of an ancient
family of Champagne, celebrated alike in the magistracy and the

Marie De Medicis 37

entreated to disregard the efforts which were made to
dissuade him from entering Paris, where the Queen
was prepared to receive him with all possible honour
and welcome.

Thus assured, M. de Conde, mounted upon a pied
charger, which had been presented to him by the
Archduke, and habited in the deepest mourning, con-
tinued his journey, having his brother-in-law the Prince
of Orange on his right hand and the Comte de Beau-
mont on his left, with whom he occasionally conversed ;
but it was remarked that as he drew near the capital
he became absent and ill at ease ; and his discomposure
was destined to be increased by the circumstance that
on his arrival at the Louvre the gates were closed upon
the greater number of his followers, and only a slender
retinue permitted to enter with him. On ascending

Church. One of his ancestors, Nicolas de Thou, clerk of the parlia-
mentary council, and Bishop of Chartres, performed the coronation
service of Henry IV. in 1594, and died in 1598. Christophe de Thou,
the brother of Nicolas, was first president of the Parliament of Paris,
chancellor to the Dues d'Anjou and d'Alencon, and a faithful servant
of Henri II., Charles IX., and Henri III., whom he served with un-
tiring zeal during the intestine troubles of the kingdom. He died in
1582. His son, the subject of the present note, embraced the legal
profession, and became, from parliamentary councillor, president
d ntortier. In 1586, after the day of the Barricades, he left Paris, and
entered the service of Henri III., who confided to him several mis-
sions in England and Italy. On the accession of Henri IV., De Thou
eagerly embraced his interests, and by this sovereign he was also em-
ployed in negotiations of importance. At the death of Amyot he was
appointed grand master of the King's library. During the regency
of Marie de Medicis he became director-general of finance, and was
deputed, in conjunction with Cardinal Duperron, to reform the Uni-
versity of Paris, and to aid in the construction of the Royal College.
Posterity is indebted to De Thou for a History of his time, in one
hundred and thirty-eight books, embracing sixty years, from 1545 to
1607. His style is terse, elevated, and elegant, and the work is full
of elaborate and most minute detail. De Thou died in 1617.

38 The Life of

the great staircase, in order to pay his respects to the
King, he was informed that his Majesty was in the
Queen's apartment, towards which he immediately pro-
ceeded. His reception was gracious and affectionate,
and he had no sooner knelt and kissed hands than the
Regent assured him of the joy that she felt at his re-
turn, and the confidence with which she looked for-
ward to his advice and assistance. On quitting the
royal presence, after a prolonged interview, the Prince
warmly expressed his gratification at the welcome which
had been accorded to him, declaring that he should for-
ever hold himself indebted to the Queen for an amount
of affability which he could not have anticipated.

From the palace M. de Conde proceeded to his resi-
dence at the Hotel de Lyon, accompanied by the Due
de Guise, and followed by the same suite with which
he had entered the capital ; and thence he hastened to
the residence of the Comtesse d'Auvergne to greet the
Princess. Their meeting was warm and affectionate ;
both were anxious to forget the past, and to profit by
the future ; while the sincerity of the reconciliation on
the part of Madame de Conde was fully proved by her
subsequent devotion to his interests and happiness.
Their interview was a long and affecting one, and the
Prince spent the remainder of the day in her society,
returning, however, in the evening to the Louvre to be
present at the coucher of the King, whom he assisted
to undress ; after which he waited upon the Queen,
with whom he remained until a late hour.*

During the ensuing week Conde was entirely occu-
pied in receiving the visits of the nobility, who
* L'Etoile, vol. iv. pp. 164-169.

Marie De Medicis 39

unanimously hastened to pay their respects, and to
solicit his protection. He held, in fact, a species of
court, upon which the favourites of the Regent did
not fail to comment with an emphatic bitterness that
once more awakened the suspicions of Marie; who,
aware of the popularity of the Prince, was easily per-
suaded to believe that these demonstrations were preg-
nant with danger to the interests of her son ; and,
aware of the instability of her own position, the
prejudices which were entertained against her person,
and the ambition of the great nobles, she listened with
avidity to the suggestions of MM. de Soissons, d'Eper-
non, and de Joyeuse, that she should effect the arrest
of Conde before he had time to organise a faction in
his favour. In addition to the public homage of which
he was the object, they pointed out to her that frequent
councils were held, which were attended by all the
chiefs of his party, both at the Hotel de Mayenne and
at the Arsenal, where the treasure amassed by the late
King still remained under the guardianship, and at the
discretion of, the Due de Sully. They reminded her
also of the manner in which the Prince had quitted the
capital, and the vehemence with which he had ex-
pressed his indignation at the treatment he had re-
ceived, not only to his personal friends, but also at the
foreign courts which he had visited during his absence ;
and they besought her to take proper precautions be-
fore it became too late.*

These arguments were also warmly advocated by
Concini and his wife, the Papal Nuncio, the Spanish
Ambassador, the Chancellor Sillery, Villeroy, Jeannin,

* Mezeray, vol. xi. pp. 9, 10.

40 The Life of

Arnaud, * and the celebrated Pere Cotton,f who had
fully possessed himself of the confidence of the Queen,
and who was admitted to all her private councils.^

* Antoine Arnaud was the elder son of Antoine Arnaud, captain of
the light horse, and subsequently attorney and advocate-general of
Catherine de Medicis. The younger Arnaud embraced the legal pro-
fession, and became an advocate of the Parliament of Paris, where he
distinguished himself by his probity and eloquence. Henri IV. re-
warded his merit by the brevet of councillor of state, and Marie de
Medicis appointed him advocate-general. When offered the dignity
of secretary of state, he resolutely refused to accept it, representing to
the Regent that he could more effectually serve her as advocate-gen-
eral to the King than in the secretaryship. His able and erudite
speech in the celebrated Jesuit cause tried at Paris in 1594, in the
presence of Henri IV. and the Duke of Savoy, and his work entitled
The Plain and True Discourse against the Recall of the Order to
France, are well known. At the conclusion of the trial named above
the University offered him a handsome present; which, however, he
declined, declaring that he required no recompense, and had given his
services gratuitously ; whereupon that learned body passed a solemn
act pledging itself to eternal gratitude alike towards him and his pos-
terity ; an obligation which it would, however, appear to have forgotten
in 1656, in the case of his son. His great talents and high character
procured for him an alliance with the first president, who bestowed
upon him the hand of his daughter Catherine, by whom he became the
father of twenty children. Although adverse to the League, Arnaud
was a member of the Romish Church.

f Pierre Cotton, subsequently so famous as the confessor of Henri
IV., was born at Neronde, in the department of the Loire, in 1564,
and was received into the Order of the Jesuits in 1585 at Arona, in the
Milanese, whence he was sent to Milan to study philosophy. Thence
he was removed to Rome, where he remained twelve months engaged
in the same pursuit ; and finally he proceeded to Lyons, where he com-
pleted his education, and began to preach. During a sojourn at
Grenoble he was presented to the Due de Lesdiguieres, in whom he
inspired so much confidence that it was to his good offices that he was
indebted for his selection as confessor to the King. The Duke having
represented him as a sound and eloquent preacher, he was instructed
to proceed to Paris, where his sermons having realised the report of his
patron, Henri IV. at once adopted him as his director. After the death
of that monarch, he was for some time the confessor of Louis XIII.
In 1617 he abandoned the Court, and travelled through the southern
provinces as a missionary-apostle. He was the author of several con-
troversial and religious works, and died in 1626.

\ Sully, Mem. vol. viii. pp. 36, 37.

Marie De Medicis 41

Fortunately, however, Marie hesitated to hazard so
extreme a step ; and day after day went by without
any hostile manifestation on the part of the Prince,
who openly declared himself resolved to support her
authority. As her alarm on this subject diminished,
the private friends of the Queen turned their attention
to other matters of political interest ; and according to
the testimony of Sully, zealously employed themselves
in contravening all the wishes, and disappointing all
the views, of Henri IV. " There can be no difficulty,"
he says with a bitterness which shows how deeply he
felt his own exclusion, " in deciding upon the subject
of their deliberations. The union of the crowns of
France and Spain, the abolition of ancient alliances
with foreign powers, the abolition of all the edicts of
pacification, the destruction of the Protestants, the ex-
clusion of those of the reformed religion from places
of trust, the disgrace of all who will not submit to the
yoke of the new favourites, the dissipation of the
treasures amassed by the late King, in order to secure
the services of the greedy and the ambitious, and to
load with wealth and power such as are destined to
rise to the highest dignities in the realm that is to
say, a thousand projects as pernicious to the King and
to the state as they were advantageous to our most
mortal enemies, such were the great objects of the
deliberations of these new counsellors." *

Be this as it may, it is certain that as regarded the
Prince de Conde, the Queen was better served by acci-
dent than she would have been by the dangerous
advice of her friends. The wise precaution which she

* Sully, Mem. vol. viii. p. 37.

42 The Life of

had taken of arming the citizens of Paris, and of placing
them under the command of individuals chosen by
herself, and who had taken an oath of fidelity to her
service in the Hotel de Ville, secured the loyalty of the
populace ; while the jealousy of the Guises, who, even
while professing the most ardent attachment to M. de
Conde, were gradually becoming cooler in his cause
and quarrelling among themselves, gave no encourage-
ment to an attempt at revolt on his part, even should
he have been inclined to hazard it.

The Due de Bouillon alone laboured incessantly to
undermine the power of the Regent ; and he at length
suggested to the Prince that in order to counterbalance
the authority of the Court, and to maintain his own
rightful dignity, he would do well to return to his
original religion, and to place himself at the head of
the Protestants, who would form a very important and
powerful party. M. de Conde, however, declined to
follow this advice, protesting that he had no desire to
involve the kingdom in intestine commotion, and was
content to await the progress of events.* It is probable
that he was the more readily induced to exert this
forbearance from the extreme generosity of the Queen,
who, remembering the abruptness with which he had
been deprived, on the occasion of his marriage, of the
many lucrative appointments bestowed upon him,
hastened to present him with a pension of two hun-
dred thousand livres ; to which she added the Hotel de
Conti in the Faubourg St. Germain, which she pur-
chased for that purpose at a similar sum, the county
of Clermont, and other munificent donations. f

* Mezeray, vol. xi. p. 10. f Sully, Mini. vol. viii. p. 81 note.

Marie De Medicis 43

Nor was M. de Conde the only recipient of her
uncalculating generosity, as may be gathered from the
following document from the pen of Richelieu :

" The good management of the savings fund of the
late King left us, when he was taken away, five millions
in the Bastille ; and in the hands of the treasurer of
the fund from seven to eight millions more, with
which he had intended to pay the army that he had
raised in order to extend the limits of his glory, which
would admit no others than those of the universe
itself. The uncertainty in which we were left by that
fatal event rendering it necessary that we should secure
the safety of the state by the counterpoise of a certain
body of troops, we found ourselves constrained to em-
ploy a portion of the finances in maintaining during a
few months a large military force which had already
been raised ; so that this outlay, the funeral of the
King, and the coronation of the Queen, of which the
expenses were not paid, reduced these savings veiy
considerably. After the death of that great Prince,
who was the actual ruler of the state, it was impossible
to prevent a certain disorder, which even went so far
as to induce several individuals, who measured their
deserts by their ambition, shamefully to seek, and per-
tinaciously to persist in demanding, benefits which
they could never have hoped to secure during his life-
time. They profit by the difficulties of the period,
offer to serve the state, declare how they have it in
their power to injure the national interests, and, in
short, make it clearly understood that they will only
do their duty upon the most advantageous terms ;
and so conduct themselves that even those who had

44 The Life of

assisted the King in amassing his treasure advise the
Queen to yield to the exigencies of the time, to open
her hands, and to give largely to every one.

" In accordance with these counsels she increases
the pensions and establishments of the Princes, the
nobles, and the old servants of the Crown ; she grants
new ones ; she augments the garrisons of her fortresses,
as much to satisfy those who hold them as for the
safety of the country, and maintains a greater number
of troops than formerly ; the increase of these pensions
amounting on an average to three millions annually.
The expense of the light horse and infantry is at
present (1617) three millions three hundred thousand
livres; while in 1610 it amounted only to fifteen
hundred thousand francs. She makes numerous
presents, and this under advice, without increasing her
receipts, as well as reducing them annually two mil-
lions five hundred thousand livres by the diminution
of the duty on salt ; and so augments her expenses
that, upon mature consideration, we shall rather be
applauded for being in the state we still are after so
many necessary outlays, than blamed for having in-
curred them. M. le Prince (Conde) received during
six years three millions six hundred and sixty thousand
livres ; the Prince and Princesse de Conti above one
million four hundred thousand ; the Due de Guise
nearly one million seven hundred thousand; M. de
Nevers one million six hundred thousand; M. de
Longueville * one million two hundred thousand ;

* Henri II., Due de Longueville, was still a mere youth, having
been born in 1595. Appointed plenipotentiary at the Congress of
Miinster in 1648, as well as Governor of Normandy, he threw himself
into the party of the Fronde, on the pretext of mortification at being

Marie De Medicis 45

MM. de Mayenne, father and son, two millions and
several thousands ; M. de Vendome near six hundred
thousand ; M. d'Epernon and his children near seven
hundred thousand ; and M. de Bouillon near a million.

" All the Marshals of France, of which the number
was increased one half, received four times as much as
formerly, their pensions being augmented twenty-four
thousand livres, which, in six years, allowing to each
one hundred and forty-four thousand livres, and calcu-
lating them at eight in number, as they have always
been, make, one with the other, one million one
hundred and fifty-two thousand livres.

" Six other dukes, or officers of the Crown, received
the same allowance, augmenting the outlay in six
years by eighty-six thousand four hundred livres.
Hence it is easy to see how the treasury of France
was exhausted, since eleven or twelve articles in favour
of the great nobles of the state carry off nearly seven-
teen millions, without including all that was paid to
them in the shape of salaries and appointments, the
deniers du talion * for their companies of men-at-arms
grants for the maintenance of the garrisons of their
fortresses, and finally, without calculating the troubles
occasioned by several among them ; troubles which,
having compelled us on three several occasions to take
up arms, have cost us, upon a strict computation, more
than twenty millions of additional outlay." |

refused the government of Havre, but in reality in compliance with
the entreaties of his wife. As the result of this concession he, in 1650,
shared the imprisonment of the Princes de Conde and de Conti ; but
having recovered his liberty during the following year, he renounced
all partisanship, and died peaceably in 1663.

* Fines paid for the commutation of offences.

\ Instruction de M. de Shomberg, Comte de Monteuil, conseillier

46 The Life of

We have copied this document at full length, and in
this place, in order, in so far as we are enabled so to
do, to exonerate Marie de Medicis from the charge of
reckless extravagance unsparingly brought against her
by the Due de Sully. Richelieu himself, at the period
at which this report was furnished to the ministers,
was little disposed to extenuate the errors of the
Regent; and cannot, consequently, be supposed to
have volunteered any palliative circumstances. More-
over, it is worthy of notice that the enormous sums
registered above were not lavished upon the personal
favourites of the Queen, but were literally the price
paid by the nation to purchase the loyalty of its Prin-
ces and nobles; a frightful state of things, which
exhibits more forcibly than any argument the utter
powerlessness of Marie to restrain the excessive expen-
diture by which the kingdom was so soon reduced to
the brink of bankruptcy.

The Regent having renewed all the alliances of
France with the several European powers, they at this
period accredited extraordinary ambassadors to the
French capital, to offer the condolences and congratu-
lations of their respective sovereigns to the young King
and his mother. Among these the most interesting to
the personal feelings of Marie was Lord Wharton;
who, in addition to the merely verbal compliments
common on such occasions, presented to Louis XIII.,
in the name of his royal master, James I., the Order
of the Garter, accompanied by his affectionate assur-

du Roi en son conseil d'etat, lieutenant-general de sa Majest es pays
de Limosin, haute et basse Marche, pour son voyage d'Allemagne
1617. Pieces Justificatives ; signed by Richelieu.

Marie De Medicis 47

ances that he had not forgotten the promise exchanged
between himself and the late monarch, that whichever
of the two survived would be as a father to the chil-
dren of the other ; a pledge which he declared himself
to be both ready and anxious to ratify. Nor was this
the first proof of sympathy which the English monarch
had evinced towards Marie and her son, the Court of
London having immediately put on mourning on
learning of the death of Henri IV., and a suspension of
all public amusements having taken place throughout
the capital. Gratified by so signal a demonstration of
respect and regard, the Regent accordingly no sooner
ascertained that the British envoy was approaching
Paris than she despatched a party of four hundred
mounted nobles to meet him outside the gates, and
herself took her station at a window in order to see
him pass ; a condescension which was considered to be
a signal honour at that period.

The most important of these missions, politically
considered, was, however, that of the Duque de Feria,*
who arrived in France with a brilliant suite, charged
with the most specious and high-sounding professions
and promises of Philip of Spain, who pledged himself
to support the Regency under all circumstances, and
to place at the disposal of the Queen whatever assist-
ance she might require against both external and in-
ternal enemies. These magnificent assurances were
coldly received by most of his hearers, who distrusted
alike the Spanish monarch and his envoy ; and who
had not yet forgotten that only a few months had

* Lorenzo Balthazar de Figueroa y Cordova, Duque de Feria, who
in 1618 was appointed Governor of the Milanese.

48 The Life of

elapsed, since Philip had himself endeavoured, not
merely to dispossess Marie of her authority, but also
to incite M. de Conde to dispute the throne itself with
her young son. Upon the Queen and her immediate
friends they, however, produced a contrary effect ; her
leaning towards the Court of Spain inducing her to
welcome every symptom of a desire on the part of
that Cabinet to maintain a good understanding with
her own Government. Her reception of the Duque
de Feria was consequently so gracious that he imme-
diately proceeded to renew the negotiation already
mooted for the double alliance between the two nations,
which must, should it ever be effected, render their in-
terests, at least for a time, inseparable. No proposition
could be more acceptable to Marie de Medicis, who,
harassed and dispirited, gladly welcomed any prospect
of support by which she might hope to keep her turbu-
lent nobility in check; while Philip on his side was
anxious to effect so desirable an alliance, as it would
enable him, irrespectively of its contingent advantages,
to gain time, and thus secure the means of settling the
affairs of Germany, which were embroiled by the mis-
understanding between the Emperor and his brothers.
The Spanish Cabinet was, moreover, desirous of
widening the breach between the Catholics and Prot-
estants of France, an attempt in which it was zealously
seconded by the Pope, who was readily persuaded that
no measure could be so desirable for the accomplish-
ment of such a purpose as a union between the two
crowns. Thus the objections which had appeared in-
superable to Henri IV. lost all their weight in the
mutual anxiety of Marie and Philip to secure the ad-

Marie De Medicis 49

vantages which each sought to gain ; and, as the youth
of Louis XIII. forbade the immediate celebration of
the marriage, a private pledge was exchanged between
the ministers of France and the Spanish envoy, that
the Regent should not interfere with the measures of
the House of Austria in Germany, while Spain should
refuse all support to the malcontents in her own king-
dom ; and this mutual understanding once established,
the double alliance was concluded.*

In the midst of the important interests by which the
mind of Marie de Medicis was at this period occupied,
a fresh demand upon her attention was made by
Madame de Verneuil, who on the 1 5th of September
laid before the Comte de Soissons, the Cardinal de
Joyeuse, and the Due d'Epernon, the written engage-
ment which she had received from the Due de Guise,
and urged its enforcement. Her claim was warmly
espoused by M. de Soissons, who at once declared the
document to be valid and unanswerable ; while it was
admitted by all by whom it was examined to be strictly
legal in form, and to authorise her in demanding its
ratification. Unlike that which she had previously ex-
torted from Henri IV., the promise which the Marquise
now produced was not only signed by M. de Guise
himself, but also by two notaries, a priest, and several
witnesses. Unfortunately, however, whether by acci-
dent, or intention on the part of the Duke, both the
notaries by whom it had been attested were aged men,
one of whom had subsequently died ; while the other
had become so imbecile that when interrogated upon

* Mezeray, vol. xi. p. 17. Richelieu, Hist, de la Mtre et du Fils,
vol. xi. pp. 106, 107. D'Estrees, Metn. p. 379.

50 The Life of

the subject, he first doubted, and subsequently denied,
all knowledge of the transaction ; but as these con-
tingencies did not affect the signature of M. de Guise
himself, his position was sufficiently embarrassing ; and
the rather that, his passion for the Marquise having
been long extinguished, he had become the acknowl-
edged suitor of the Dowager Duchess of Montpensier.

There can be little doubt that had Henri IV. still
lived Madame de Verneuil would have been enabled to
enforce her claim, as that monarch would not have
suffered so admirable an opportunity of mortifying the
Guises to have escaped him ; and thus individual im-
prudence would have afforded him a triumph which
the fortune of arms had hitherto denied, and the most
jealous watchfulness failed to secure ; but his death had
changed the position of all the parties interested in the
affair, and Marie de Medicis looked upon it with very
different feelings. Her old and still existing hatred of
the Marquise was renewed by an exhibition of arro-
gance which recalled to memory some of the most bit-
ter moments of her existence; and her pride as a
sovereign was revolted at the prospect of seeing the
woman by whom her peace had been destroyed ele-
vated to the rank of a Princess of the Blood, and
placed beside the very steps of her throne.

She was, moreover, anxious to limit the power of
the Comte de Soissons, and to prevent the proposed
marriage of his son Louis de Bourbon with the heiress
of Montpensier, which would have opened up a still
wider field for his ambition. She accordingly espoused
the cause of the Due de Guise, who, having no other
alternative by which to rid himself of the Marquise,

Marie De Medicis 51

did not scruple to deny the authenticity of the signa-
ture ascribed to him ; and he had no sooner resolutely
done this, than the Regent placed the affair in the
hands of the President Jeannin, who with his usual
ability at length succeeded in inducing Madame de
Verneuil to withdraw her claims. Aware that he could
hope nothing either from her generosity or her dread
of ridicule, the astute lawyer represented to her the in-
equality of the contest in which she was about to en-
gage without any ulterior support ; whereas the Due
de Guise was not only powerful in himself, but would
necessarily be supported by all the members of his
family, as well as protected by the Queen.

The Marquise for a time affected to believe that the
legality of the document in her possession must enable
her to triumph even over these obstacles, formidable as
they were ; but Jeannin reminded her of the death of
one of her witnesses, the denial of another, and the
solemn declaration of the Duke that his own signature
was feigned ; assuring her that these circumstances
must prove more than sufficient to prevent the recog-
nition of the deed in any court of law. When he
found that this argument had produced the desired im-
pression, he next proceeded to expatiate upon the
benefit which she could not fail to derive from the
gratitude of the Guises, should she voluntarily with-
draw her claim without subjecting the Duke to the an-
noyance of a public lawsuit ; during which, moreover,
her former liaison with his brother, the Prince de Join-
ville, could not fail to be made matter of comment and
curiosity. He urged upon her the desirability of
avoiding a publicity which must tend to dishonour both

52 The Life of

herself and her children ; and, finally, he pointed out
the propriety and policy of seizing so favourable an
opportunity to secure the good-will of the Regent, who
would as a natural consequence be gratified by such a
concession, and be thus induced to bury the past in
oblivion.

Madame de Verneuil wept and argued in vain.
Jeannin was indeed too subtle an antagonist to afford
her one inch of vantage-ground ; and he so thoroughly
undermined the reasonings which she advanced, that,
wearied and discouraged, she at length consented to
forego her claim.

Deprived of the position which she had formerly
held at the Court, she never reappeared there, but
spent the remainder of her life either on her estate at
Verneuil, or in her hotel at Paris, in such complete re-
tirement that nothing more is known of her save the
period of her death, which took place on the 9th of
February, 1633, when she had reached her fifty-fourth

year.*

* Dreux du Radier, vol. vi. pp. 105-107.

CHAPTER II
1610

A Temporary Calm Louis XIII. Marie de Medicis Purchases the
Marquisate of Ancre for Concini Rapid Rise of His Fortunes
His Profusion He Intrigues to Create Dissension Among the
Princes of the Blood His Personal Endowments The Due de
Bouillon Endeavours to Induce M. de Conde to Revolt He fails
He Disposes of His Office at Court to the Marquis d'Ancre Marie
de Medicis Continues the Public Edifices Commenced and Projected
by Henri IV. Zeal of the Due de Mayenne Cupidity of the Court
M. de Conde and His Advisers The Prince and the Minister
Forebodings of Sully He Determines to Resign Office His Un-
popularity The Regent Refuses to Accept His Resignation The
War in Germany The Regent Resolves to Despatch an Army to
Cleves The Due de Bouillon Demands the Command of the Troops
Is Refused by the Council Retires in Disgust to Sedan The
Command is Conferred on the Marechal de la Chatre A Bootless
Campaign The French Troops Return Home New Dissensions at
Court The Due d'Epernon Becomes the Declared Enemy of the
Protestants Apprehensions of the Reformed Party Quarrel of
Sully and Villeroy The Regent Endeavours to Effect a Reconcili-
ation with the Prince de Conti Princely Wages M. de Conti Re-
turns to Court The Princes of the Blood Attend the Parliament
The Marquis d'Ancre is Admitted to the State Council Sully and
Bouillon Retire from the Capital Sully Resolves to Withdraw from
the Government, but is Again Induced to Retain Office The King
and Pere Cotton The Court Leave Paris for Rheims Coronation
of Louis XIII. His Public Entry Into the Capital The Prince de
Conde and the Comte de Soissons are Reconciled Quarrel Between
the Marquis d'Ancre and the Due de Bellegarde Cabal Against
Sully The Huguenots Petition for a General Assembly Reluc-
tance of the Regent to Concede Their Demand She Finds Herself
53

54 The Life of

Compelled to Comply M. de Villeroy Garrisons Lyons Sully Re-
tires from the Ministry Demands of the Princes Sully 's last Offi-
cial Act His Parting Interview with Louis XIII The Minister
and the Mountebanks.

FOR a short time Marie began to hope that the
conciliatory measures she had adopted would
ensure the tranquillity of the country over which she
had been called to govern. All the cities and prov-
inces had sworn fidelity to the King, and obedience to
herself; all the governors of fortresses had followed
their example ; and the great nobles, whose plans were
not yet matured, and whose cupidity was for the mo-
ment satisfied, testified no inclination to disturb, or to
trammel the measures of the Government. The relief
afforded to the middle and lower classes by the
diminution of some of the national imposts, and the
abolition of others, began to produce its effect upon
the popular mind ; and the young King was received
whenever he appeared in public with warm and en-
thusiastic greetings. All the members of the House
of Guise, traditionally the most dangerous enemies of
the Crown, affected a respectful deference towards the
Regent, and an earnest desire to uphold her authority ;
while the Due d'Epernon, who had, in her first hour
of trial, at once declared himself her devoted adherent,
appeared to exist only to fulfil her wishes. The min-
isters deferred to her opinions with a respect which
caused their occasional opposition to be rather matter
of argument than mortification ; and, finally, Concini
and his wife seemed to have forgotten their own inter-
ests in those of their royal mistress.*

* Richelieu, La Mire et le Fils, vol. i. p. 91.

Marie De Medicis 55

Meanwhile, the bearing of the young sovereign,
ably prompted by the wisdom of M. de Souvre, was
admirable. Gifted with an intellect beyond his years,
and with an agreeable person, he soon engaged the
affections of the people ; who, eager to love the son
of Henri IV., and to anticipate under his rule the same
glory and greatness which had characterised the reign
of his father, drew the happiest auguries from his
slightest actions ; while the modesty of his demeanour
towards the princes and nobles equally tended to estab-
lish a feeling of interest and sympathy towards his
person which promised a favourable result. When he
received the homage of his Court on his accession he
said sadly : " Gentlemen, these honours have devolved
upon me too soon ; I am not yet old enough to gov-
ern ; be faithful, and obey the commands of the Queen
my mother." *

Unfortunately, the ambition of Concini was more
powerful than his devotion to his benefactress ; and his
influence continued unabated. Moreover, his vanity
was mortified, as he could not conceal from himself
that he was indebted for his position at Court, indefi-
nite as it was, to the affection of the Regent for his
wife; and he consequently urged Leonora to induce
the Queen to purchase for him the town of Ancre in
Picardy, whose possession would invest him with the
title of marquis, and assure to him the consideration
due to that rank. Madame de Concini accordingly
proffered her request, which was conceded without
difficulty ; for Marie was at that moment, to adopt the
expression of Richelieu, keeping her hands open ; and

* Mercure Fran fats, 1610, p. 505.

56 The Life of

this purchase formed a comparatively unimportant item
in her lavish grants. Encouraged by so facile a suc-
cess, the Italian adventurer was, however, by no means
disposed to permit even this coveted dignity to satisfy
his ambition, and through the same agency he ere long
became Governor of Peronne. Roye, and Montdidier,
which he purchased from M. de Crequy for the sum of
forty thousand crowns. The Queen had been induced
to furnish an order upon the royal treasury for this
amount, which was presented without any misgiving
by the exulting favourite ; but M. de Villeroy, who
considered himself to have been slighted on some oc-
casion by her Majesty, refused to countersign the
document, an opposition which so enraged Concini
that he hastened to pour out his complaints to Marie ;
who, overcome by the wrath of the husband and the
tears of the wife, summoned the Due de Sully, of
whom she inquired if it were not possible to procure
the requisite amount by having recourse to the money
lodged at the Arsenal. Sully replied in the negative,
declaring that the sums therein deposited were not
available for such a purpose, and reminding her that
seven millions of livres had already been withdrawn
since the death of the King.* It was, consequently,
necessary to raise the desired purchase-money by other
means, which having been at length effected, Concini
found himself not only placed by his court-appoint-
ment on a par with the peers of the realm, but also
enabled, by the munificence of the Regent, and the
revenues of his new government, to rival them in
magnificence.

* L'Etoile, vol. iv. pp. 191, 192.

Marie De Medicis 57

Then it was that his talent for intrigue boldly devel-
oped itself. In vain did his wife warn him of the
danger of further forcing his fortunes, and thus draw-
ing down upon himself the hatred and envy of the
native nobility; in vain did she represent that by
indulging his passion for power and display he must
eventually create enemies who were certain to prove
fatal to his prosperity ; Concini, as weak and vain as
he was greedy and ambitious, disregarded her advice,
and strenuously turned his attention to fomenting a
misunderstanding among the most influential of the
nobles, in order to prevent a coalition which threatened
to diminish his own importance. He was well aware
of his unpopularity with the Princes of the Blood, who
could not without indignation see themselves com-
pelled to treat with him almost upon equal terms, pro-
tected as he was by the favour of the Queen ; and he
consequently lived in perpetual apprehension of their
forming a cabal to effect his ruin. Skilfully, therefore,
with a smiling countenance, but an anxious heart, he
availed himself of every opportunity to foment the
jealousies and hatreds which policy had for a brief
while laid to rest. To each and all he appeared
zealous in their several interests, but to each and all he
was alike a traitor.

Nature had been lavish to Concini ; his person was
well-formed and graceful, while his countenance beamed
with intelligence, and gave promise of far greater
intellect than he in reality possessed. It was this
handsomeness which had inspired Leonora Galigai
with a passion that was destined to be her destruction,
for no doubt can be entertained that had she never

58 The Life of

become his wife her career might have been one of
happiness and honour ; but while Concini, absorbed in
his wild schemes of self-aggrandisement, trampled
upon every consideration of honour and honesty in
order to attain his object, Leonora, conscious of her
own want of personal attractions, and loving her hus-
band with a devotion made up of gratitude and admi-
ration, suffered herself to be overruled by his vanity
and arrogance, and sacrificed her reason and her judg-
ment to her affection.

The Marechal de Bouillon having failed in his at-
tempt to induce M. de Conde to revolt against the
authority of the Regent, by one of those sudden
transitions of feeling which formed so strange a feature
in his character, next sought to reconcile that Prince
and the Due de Guise, who were already at feud upon
the prerogatives > of their rank ; and he began to an-
ticipate a successful issue to his enterprise, when the
ministers, being apprehensive that a good understand-
ing among the Princes of the Blood would tend to
weaken their own influence over the Regent, gave him
to understand that should M. de Conde and the Due
de Guise become firm friends, his personal importance
in the country would be greatly lessened, if not entirely
overthrown. This argument was all-sufficient with the
ambitious and intriguing Bouillon, who forthwith
began to slacken in his exertions to restore peace.
But these had already proceeded so far as to render
his position extremely embarrassing ; and between his
apprehension of sacrificing his own interest on the one
hand, and of incurring suspicion upon the other, he
was somewhat at a loss how to proceed, when the

Marie De Medicis 59

adroit interference of Concini, who deprecated the
coalition of the Princes as much as the ministers them-
selves, furnished fresh fuel to the expiring flame, and
widened the chasm between them more hopelessly
than ever ; and that, moreover, with such dexterity,
that M. de Bouillon never suspected what friendly hand
had come to his aid ; although the Italian favourite
did not fail to propitiate the haughty Duke by every
means in his power, and so thoroughly succeeded in
flattering his vanity, and encouraging his ambitious
aspirations, that, anxious to secure the interest and
assistance of so influential a person as the husband of
the Queen's foster-sister and confidential friend, M. de
Bouillon was induced to sell to him his office of First
Lord of the Bedchamber; a circumstance which at
once secured a permanent footing at Court to Concini,
and opened before him a long vista of prosperity.*

One of the first decisions arrived at by the Regent
was the completion of all the public edifices com-
menced by the late King, and the erection of such as
he had resolved upon, but had not lived to commence ;
an admirable act of policy by which she at once
evinced her respect for the memory of her husband,
and procured employment for hundreds of workmen,
who must otherwise have been severe sufferers from
want of occupation. Those which were originated
under her auspices were the castle of Vincennes and
the Royal College, the latter of which she caused to be
built strictly according to the design executed by Henry
himself; and the first stone was laid on the 28th of
August by the young King, assisted by his whole

* Mezeray, vol. xi. pp. 10, II. D'Estrees, Mem. p. 379.

60 The Life of

Court. It bore the arms of France and Medicis, and
beneath them was inscribed in deeply-chiselled char-
acters : " In the first year of the reign of Louis XIII.,
King of France and Navarre, aged nine years, and of
the regency of the Queen Marie de Medicis his mother,
1610." Four medals, bearing the same inscription,
two of gold and two of silver gilt, having been placed
at the corners of the stone, which was then lowered,
the Due de Sully presented the silver trowel, while two
of the attendant nobles alternately offered the hammer
and the silver trough containing the mortar.

During the following month the Queen herself per-
formed the same ceremony at Vincennes, respecting
the fortress, and the magnificent tower built by Charles
VII., but erecting beneath its shadow a commodious
residence on the space which had heretofore been
cumbered with a mass of unsightly buildings, totally
unsuitable for the reception of a Court.*

The Due de Mayenne, although suffering from se-
vere indisposition, had hastened to offer his services to
the Regent ; who, recognising his ability, and grateful
for the zeal which he evinced in her interests, ex-
pressed all the gratification that she felt at his prompt
and earnest offers of aid ; which he moreover followed
up with such untiring perseverance that he caused him-
self to be conveyed every day to the Louvre in his
chair, in order to discuss with her Majesty the various
measures necessary to the peace and welfare of the
state. Above all he exhorted her to restrain her mu-
nificence, by which not only the Treasury fund, but
also the revenues of the country could not fail ere long

* Mercure Franfais, 1610, pp. 510, 511.

Marie De Medicis 61

to be dangerously affected; representing to her the
indecency of those who, profiting by the calamity with
which France had so suddenly been stricken, were en-
deavouring to build up their own fortunes upon the
misfortune of the nation, and who were aspiring to
honours suited only to such as by their high birth and
princely rank were imperatively called upon to uphold
the dignity of the Crown.

This argument was warmly seconded by Sully, Ville-
roy, and Jeannin ; but Marie had already suffered so
deeply from the arrogance and presumption of the no-
bles that she was anxious to purchase their support,
and her own consequent tranquillity, however exorbi-
tant might be the demands of those about her ; and,
accordingly, scarcely a day passed in which fresh claim-
ants did not present themselves, while the original re-
cipients remained still unsatisfied.*

It was not long ere the parties most interested in
these donations became aware of the attempt made to
limit the liberality of the Queen, and they did not af-
fect to disguise their indignation at what they desig-
nated as an interference with their just claims. It ap-
peared to have grown into an admitted opinion that all
who had not revolted against her authority should be
recompensed for their forbearance, as though it had
been some signal service rendered to the state ; and
immediate deliberations were held as to the best meas-
ures to be adopted in order to silence the prudent
counsels to which she could not finally fail to yield.
As regarded the Due de Mayenne, he was beyond the
reach of the cabal ; while Jeannin and Villeroy could

* Matthieu, Hist, des Verniers Troubles, book iii. p. 455.

62 The Life of

oppose nothing save words ; with Sully, however, the
case was widely different; he was not only finance
minister, but also keeper of the royal treasury, and his
fearless and sturdy nature was so well understood and
appreciated, that none who knew him doubted for an
instant that should the Regent persevere in her gen-
erosity in opposition to his advice, he would not hesi-
tate to adopt the most extreme measures to limit her
power in the disposal of the public funds.

Sully, meanwhile, like a generous adversary, had not
only endeavoured to restrain the liberality of the
Queen, but had even ventured to expostulate with many
of the applicants upon the ruinous extravagance of
their demands ; a proceeding which was resented by
several of the great nobles, and by none more deeply
than the Prince de Conde, who was upheld in his pre-
tensions by his adherents, all of whom alleged that as
the royal treasury was daily suffering diminution, and
must soon become entirely exhausted, he had a right
to claim, as first Prince of the Blood, the largest por-
tion of its contents after their Majesties. They also
reminded him of the offices and honours of which he
had been despoiled by the late King, when he would
not consent to retain them as the price of his disgrace ;
and, finally, they bade him not to lose sight of the fact
that liberal as the Queen-Regent might have appeared
on his return to France, he did not yet possess the
revenues necessary to maintain his dignity as the first
subject in the realm. M. de Conde was haughty and
ambitious, and he consequently lent a willing ear to
these representations ; nor was it long ere he became
equally convinced that his power was balanced by that

Marie De Medicis 63

of Sully ; that a Bourbon was measured with a Bethune ;
a Prince of the Blood with a parvenu minister ; and
that such must continue to be the case so long as he
permitted money to be poised against influence.

The effect of these insidious counsels soon made
itself apparent in the altered manner of the Prince
towards the man whom he had thus been taught to
consider as the enemy of his greatness ; for although
he endeavoured to conceal his growing dislike, his
nature was too frank, and moreover too impetuous, to
second his policy ; and Sully, on his side, was far too
quick-sighted to be easily duped on so important a
matter. The resolution of the Duke was therefore
instantly formed ; eager as he had been for office under
the late King, he had, at the death of that monarch,
ceased to feel or to exhibit the same energy. He
already saw many of the favourite projects of Henry
negatived ; much of his advice disregarded ; and as he
looked into the future he taught himself to believe that
he contemplated only a long vista of national decline
and personal disappointment. While he had preserved
the confidence and affection of his sovereign, he had
held popularity lightly, too lightly it may be, for he
was conscious of his strength, and scorned to seek for
support where he believed that he ought only to afford
it ; but the knife of Ravaillac had changed the whole
tenor of his existence : he saw that he was regarded
with suspicion and distrust by those who envied the
greatness which he had achieved ; that however the
Queen might veil her real feelings in the garb of
esteem and kindness, she shrank from the uncom-
promising frankness of his disapproval, and the reso-

64 The Life of

lute straightforwardness of his remonstrances ; that his
desire to economise the resources of the country
rendered him obnoxious to the greedy courtiers ; and
that his past favou