The Life of Marie de Medicis Volume II Part 9

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

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

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

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

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

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

D'Estrees, _Mem_. p. 392.

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

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

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

D'Estrees, _Mem_. p. 393.

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

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

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

CHAPTER IV

1612

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The firmness of this refusal staggered Concini, who, only recently reinstated in the good graces of the Queen, was for once apprehensive of the failure of his influence. He consequently confined his reply to a simple acknowledgment of the courtesy with which his proposal had been met by the Marquis, and then endeavoured personally to regain the confidence of the Prince by a.s.surances of the sincere inclination of the Queen to meet his wishes upon every point within her power. As a natural consequence M. de Soissons listened willingly to these flattering declarations, uttered as they were by an individual well known to be in the entire confidence of his royal mistress; but they soon became blended with the regrets of the Marquis that his listener should have formed so close an alliance with his nephew as to have drawn down upon him the suspicion of the Court; and plausibly as these regrets were expressed, M. de Soissons was soon enabled to discover that the wily Italian had been instructed to detach him from Conde.

A similar endeavour was made with the Prince de Conde, but both were ineffectual. The two royal kinsmen had become fully aware that mutual support was their only safeguard against the party opposed to them; and they had no sooner detected the symptoms of coldness which supervened upon the ill-success of their advisers, than they resolved once more to leave the Court; and accordingly having taken leave of their Majesties, and resisted the pressing solicitations poured forth on all sides, they again retired; the Prince to St. Valery, and the Count to Dreux. This renewed opposition to her wishes roused the spirit of the Regent. She saw, as she a.s.serted, that there no longer remained a hope of restraining the haughtiness, or of satisfying the pretensions, of the great va.s.sals of the Crown; and she accordingly declared that in order to maintain her authority, and to secure the throne of her son, she would not allow the absence of the two Princes of the Blood to delay the publication of the King's marriage. Immediate measures were consequently taken for concluding the necessary arrangements; and this was done with the less hesitation that the Marechal de Lesdiguieres (who for some time after his arrival at Court had continued to antic.i.p.ate that the pledge given to him by the ministers would shortly be redeemed) had induced both the one and the other to state that they would offer no opposition to the alliance which had been determined.[134]

But this concession, which they were destined subsequently to deplore, was all that could be extorted from the Princes, who considered themselves aggrieved by the fact that so important a negotiation should have been carried on without their partic.i.p.ation, when special couriers had been despatched to acquaint both the Cardinal de Joyeuse and the Due d'Epernon with the pending treaty. The Comte de Soissons, moreover, complained loudly and bitterly of the undue power of the ministers, and especially inveighed against the Chancellor Sillery, whom he unhesitatingly accused of extortion and avarice, of publicly making a trade of justice to the dishonour of the nation, and of ruining those who were compelled to solicit his protection. On this point alone he was in accord with Concini; and it was to this mutual hatred of the ministers that their partial good understanding must be attributed. The reasons which induced the Marechal de Lesdiguieres to approve the alliance we have already stated: the ducal crown which he was so anxious to secure must have been irretrievably lost by any opposition on his part to the proposed alliance, and this vision was for ever before his eyes. The approbation of the Connetable de Montmorency, who had originally declared his objection to so close a union between the two countries, was purchased by a promise that the hand of one of the Princesses of Mantua, niece to the Regent, should be conferred upon his son; and the brilliant promise of the one marriage caused him to overlook the probable perils of the other; while the Duc de Bouillon, although he occasionally declared in the Council that he seriously apprehended the result of so intimate a connection with Spain, never remonstrated with any energy against the measure, and was believed by those who knew him best to have already made his conditions with Philip.

On the departure of the two Princes, Marie urged the Duc de Guise to afford her his support, together with that of his house, which he did with a frankness worthy of record, concluding, however, with these emphatic words: "I have but one favour to request of you, Madame; and that is, that after this important service your Majesty will not abandon us, as you have already once done, to the resentment of the Princes of the Blood." [135]

The Duc d'Epernon, who had left the Court, as elsewhere stated, if not in actual disgrace, at least mortified and disappointed, was now recalled; and as his failing was well known, he was received on his arrival at Fontainebleau with such extraordinary distinction that all his past grievances were at once forgotten. Sillery, Villeroy, and Concini overwhelmed him with respect and adulation, and his adherence to the party of the Regent was consequently purchased before the question had been mooted in his presence.

Meanwhile the English Amba.s.sador declaimed loudly against the contemplated alliance, which he declared to be unequivocally antagonistic to the interests of his sovereign; and his undisguised indignation so alarmed the Council that it was immediately resolved to despatch the Duc de Bouillon on an extraordinary emba.s.sy to the Court of London in order to appease the displeasure of James. The minister of the United Provinces was equally violent in his opposition, and exerted all his energies to prevent the conclusion of a treaty which he regarded as fatal to the interests of the republic that he represented, but his expostulations were disregarded. An envoy was sent to the Hague with a.s.surances of amity to Prince Maurice and the States-General; and finally, the Marechal de Schomberg was instructed to visit the several Protestant Princes of Germany in order to dispel any distrust which they might feel at the probable results of an alliance so threatening to their interests.[136]

These important measures concluded, the double marriage was proposed to the Council, where the Prince de Conde and the Comte de Soissons, who had recently returned to the capital, occupied their appointed seats; and at the commencement of the proceedings, when the question of the projected alliance had been submitted to the a.s.sembly, M. de Conde demanded that each should deliver his opinion according to his rank. The Chancellor then opened the subject by a warm panegyric on the prudent administration of the Queen-Regent, dwelling at great length upon the extraordinary benefit which must accrue to the French nation from the contemplated alliance with Spain; and he was followed by the Duc de Guise, who, with more brevity but equal force, maintained the same argument. "No deliberation," concluded the Duke, "can be required upon so advantageous a proposal. We have only to thank G.o.d that her Majesty has so happily accomplished the n.o.ble purpose with which heaven had inspired her." As he resumed his seat the Connetable de Montmorency and the Ducs de Nevers and d'Epernon warmly applauded his words; after which the Marechaux de Bouillon and de Lesdiguieres declared their approval of the alliance, simply expressing a hope that proper precautions would be taken to prevent the treaty with Spain from proving prejudicial to the interests of France in her more ancient alliances with other foreign powers; and finally it became the turn of M. de Conde to declare his sentiments. The young Prince had, however, been so astonished by the fearless address of the Duc de Guise that he had entirely lost his self-possession, and merely said with great coldness: "Since the affair is decided, it was unnecessary to ask our advice."

The surprise was universal, as the general impression throughout the Council had been that the two Princes had determined to attend the meeting in order to oppose the projected marriages; a supposition which the words immediately afterwards addressed to M. de Conde by his uncle served to confirm. "You see, sir," said the Count, turning towards him with an impatient gesture, "that we are treated here like valets."

The Regent, irritated by this remark, which was uttered so audibly as to be generally overheard, was about to make some bitter rejoinder, when Sillery, perceiving her intention, again possessed himself of the ear of the a.s.sembly; and it was ultimately concluded that the double marriage should be proclaimed on the 25th of March, and that the young Duc de Mayenne[137] should proceed to Spain as Amba.s.sador-Extraordinary to demand the hand of the Infanta.

At the close of the Council the general topic of discourse was the extraordinary part played by the two Princes. It is well known that they were both strongly opposed to the measure which had just been carried, and their conduct was severally judged according to the particular feeling of those by whom it was discussed; some a.s.serting that it was from a fear of the consequences of resistance, and others declaring that they indulged a hope of profiting largely by so unexpected a neutrality.

The Duc de Montmorency was meanwhile furious at the contempt incurred by the unmanly bearing of his son-in-law, M. de Conde. "Sir," he said, as the Prince shortly afterwards approached him, "you neither know how to resist with courage, or to yield with prudence." [138]

An unforeseen difficulty, however, now presented itself. The Spanish Cabinet no longer entertained the same apprehensions of the power of France that it had felt during the preceding year. The supremacy which it had so reluctantly recognized had ceased to exist, and the arrogance of Philip grew with this conviction; thus, where he had only a few months previously condescended to solicit, he now prepared to impose conditions, and the renewed negotiations were haughtily met by fresh proposals. Upon the pretext that the Princesses of France brought with them no right of succession to the crown, he declared his disinclination to give the hand of the elder Infanta to the young King, upon which Marie de Medicis replied that she was willing to accept his younger daughter as the bride of Louis XIII, provided that he, in his turn, were prepared to receive the Princesse Christine instead of Madame, as by this arrangement she should be enabled to fulfil the pledge given by the late King to the Duke of Savoy, that the eldest Daughter of France should be united to the Prince of Piedmont.

This explicit declaration at once silenced Philip, who was by no means desirous that Charles Emmanuel, whom he was anxious to crush, should by so close a connexion with France secure an ally through whose support he could not fail to protect himself against all aggression; and he accordingly signified with somewhat less arrogance than before that he was ready to ratify the original treaty, provided that Anne of Austria were permitted to renounce, both for herself and her children, all claim to the sovereignty of Spain.

This point having been conceded, immediate preparations were made for the proclamation of the royal marriages; but the ceremony was unavoidably delayed by the death of the Duke of Mantua, the brother-in-law of the Regent, and did not take place until the 5th of the following month,[139] on which day it was solemnly announced by the Chancellor, in the presence of the Prince de Conti, the peers and officers of the Crown, and the Spanish Amba.s.sador, who gave his a.s.sent to the duplicate alliance in the name of the King his master, and from that period treated the little Princess with all the honours due to a Queen of Spain; never addressing her save on his bended knee, and observing many still more exaggerated ceremonies which excited at once surprise and amus.e.m.e.nt at the French Court.

It will have been remarked that neither M. de Conde nor the Comte de Soissons were present at the formal announcement, both having once more withdrawn from the capital with the determination of continuing absent until the majority of the King, in order to avoid signing the marriage contract.

"The Queen," said M. de Soissons, when one of his friends would have dissuaded him from so extreme a course, "is quite able to conclude without our a.s.sistance the negotiation into which she has entered. G.o.d grant that we at least may be spared all partic.i.p.ation in the slight offered to the memory of the late King, by refusing to falsify the pledge which he gave to the Duke of Savoy, whose house has so long been the firm ally of France."

Pity it is that this generous burst of high-mindedness and loyalty will not bear a.n.a.lysis. Both the Princes had discovered that the professions to which they had so complacently listened, and which had induced their recent return to Court, had merely been intended to lure them thither at a period when their presence was more than ever essential to the interests of the Regency; and while M. de Conde found his position in the Government as undefined and unsatisfactory as ever, and that his vanity had been flattered at the expense of his interests, the Count on his side saw the possession of Quilleboeuf more remote than ever, and openly declared that they had both been duped.

This undisguised admission at once revealed the selfishness of the views with which the malcontent Princes had lent themselves to the wishes of Marie and her ministers; and a.s.suredly no worse policy could have been adopted than that by which they were again induced to exile themselves from their proper sphere of action. Too many interests were, however, served by their absence for either counsellor or courtier to point out to the Queen the extreme danger of driving them to extremities, save in the instance of the Connetable, who, more and more chagrined by the pitiful and even precarious position occupied by his son-in-law, remonstrated earnestly with the Regent upon the peril of the course which she had been induced to pursue.

"Remember, Madame," he said, "that the civil wars and wretchedness of which this nation has been the prey during the last few reigns all owed their origin to the fatal advice given to Catherine de Medicis to disregard the legitimate claims of the Princes of the Blood; and those who would induce your Majesty to follow her example are more bent upon the furtherance of their own fortunes, and the increase of their own power, than anxious for the welfare of the state. Should your Majesty, therefore, suffer yourself to be influenced by their counsels, I foresee nothing in the future but anarchy and confusion."

Unfortunately, however, the close alliance of the veteran Duke with one of those very Princes whose cause he thus warmly advocated, and his enmity towards the Guises, deprived his remonstrances of the force which they might otherwise have possessed, and Marie de Medicis consequently disregarded the warning until after-events caused her to feel and acknowledge its value. Supported by the House of Guise and the Duc d'Epernon, a.s.sured of the good faith of the Connetable and the Marechaux de Bouillon and de Lesdiguieres, as well as deeply incensed by the bearing of the two Princes in the Council; and, moreover, urged by her more immediate favourites to a.s.sert her dignity, and to display towards the malcontents a coldness and indifference as marked as that which they exhibited towards herself, she dismissed the subject from her thoughts as one of slight importance, and turned all her attention to the brilliant festivities by which the declaration of the royal marriages was to be celebrated.[140]

The besetting sin of Marie de Medicis was a love of magnificence and display, and one of her greatest errors a wilful disregard of the financial exigencies which her profuse liberality had induced. Thus the splendour of the preparations which were exciting the wonder and curiosity of all Paris engrossed her so wholly that she had little time for dwelling on contingent evils. The departure of the Princes had, moreover, relieved her from the annoyance of encountering discontented countenances and repellent frowns; and as she saw herself surrounded only by beaming looks and complacent smiles, her spirits rose, and she began to believe that her long-indulged vision of undisputed supremacy was about to be realized.

It was a pleasant dream, and one in which the self-deceived Regent was eagerly encouraged by those around her. The halls and galleries of the Louvre were crowded with animated and obsequious courtiers, and the apartments of Marie herself thronged by the greatest and proudest in the land; all of whom appeared, upon so joyous an occasion, to have laid aside their personal animosities and to live only to obey her behests.

Madame had also formed her separate Court, in the midst of which she received, with the grace of a girl and the premature dignity of a Queen, the elaborate homage of her future subjects; and meanwhile the young Louis, delighted by a partial emanc.i.p.ation from ceremony and etiquette for which he was indebted to the unusual movement about him, pursued his favourite sport of bird-hunting in the gardens of the Tuileries, and attached more importance to the feats of a well-trained sparrow-hawk than to the probable qualities of the bride provided for him by the policy of his royal mother.

And amid all this splendid excitement, gliding from one glittering group to another with a quiet self-possession and a calm composure strangely at variance with the scene around her, moved a lady whose remarkable appearance must have challenged attention, even had her singular career not already tended to make her an object of universal curiosity and speculation. Short of stature and slender of form, with a step as light and noiseless as that of an aerial being; her exquisitely-moulded although diminutive figure draped in a robe of black velvet, made after a fas.h.i.+on of which the severe propriety contrasted forcibly with the somewhat too liberal exposure of the period; with a countenance pale almost to sallowness; delicately chiselled features; and large eyes, encircled by a dark ring, only a few shades less black than the long lashes by which they were occasionally concealed; a ma.s.s of rich and glossy hair, tightly banded upon her forehead, and gathered together in a heavy knot, supported by long bodkins tipped with jewels, low in her neck behind; and above all, with that peculiar expression spread over her whole person which is occasionally to be remarked in individuals of that exceptional organization which appears to be the lot of such as are predestined to misery.

Not a Princess of the Blood, not a d.u.c.h.ess of the realm, but had a smile and a courteous and eager word to bestow upon this apparently insignificant personage, at whose signal even the door of the Queen's private closet, closed against other intruders, opened upon the instant, as though she alone of all that brilliant galaxy of rank and wealth were to know no impediment, and to be subjected to no delay.

We have been somewhat prolix in our description of this extraordinary woman, but we shall be pardoned when we explain that we here give the portrait of Leonora Galiga, Marquise d'Ancre, the friend, confidante, and foster-sister of Marie de Medicis.