XXVIII.

СНАР. rose at his call: the prince and the Huguenots signing an agreement to prevent the Spanish marriages, repudiate the council of Trent, procure the reform of the king's council, and the satisfaction of Huguenot demands,―neither party to treat or make terms without the other.* As the king returned northward with his Spanish bride, he found Condé at the head of a force equal to his own, that force principally composed of the armed and angry Huguenots. This display of hostility to a young king who had just ascended the throne, and on the occasion of his marriage, when subjects generally bring homage and congratulation, was an unfortunate event, placing the monarch and the Huguenot body in a state of antagonism, which could not be endured, and which must end in the humiliation of one or the other. The Duc de Rohan, however, as well as Condé, implicated the Huguenots to this extremity, and the assembly at Nismes assumed the character of little less than a hostile parliament. Instead of meeting such formidable resistance in arms, the king was obliged by the queen and her Italian favourites to negotiate with the religious and political malcontents.

However formidable in appearance, a league in such ill accordance as that between the Catholic grandees and the Huguenots was easily dissolved. The aim of the latter was to break the Spanish marriages, and check the ultra-Catholic policy of the court, whilst Condé and Bouillon sought to destroy Epernon's present influence with the queen, and monopolise government authority for themselves. When Marie, therefore, made ample offers to Condé, the Huguenots were at once abandoned by him with all the fickleness of his family. The Conference took place at Loudun, the Huguenot assembly transferring itself from Nismes to La Rochelle, in order

*Mémoires de Rohan.

to be near. Edmonds, the English envoy, and the Duke of Nevers acted as mediators. Condé obtained a million and a half of livres, the government of Berry, and the castle of Chinon. The Duc de Longueville had Amiens and the government of Picardy, which the Maréchal d'Ancre resigned for those of Normandy and Caen.* Six millions of livres were to be distributed amongst the grandees. Condé, to save appearances, insisted on the concession of the first demand of the late tiers état, respecting the powers of the church-that the parliament should be also satisfied, the circumstance of the late king's death inquired into (a threat to Epernon), pensions continued, the edict of pacification observed, and the decrees of Trent set aside. In addition to these public demands, Condé required that he should be chief of the council, and sign all the orders that it issued. This seemed to the queen no less than a seizure of the government, but Villeroy observed that if the prince did not attend the council his privilege was null, and that if he did his person was in the queen's power, so that, though he might hold the pen, her Majesty could control the arm. Condé was fully satisfied with this apparent concession; and when the Huguenots and others subsequently interposed difficulties, he cut these short by signing the articles of agreement (May 3, 1616), leaving all others to follow his example or continue the war. In these negotiations and decisions, Marie de Medicis and her favourite no doubt made use of the counsels of Richelieu, who was then her secrétaire des commandemens, as well as almoner to the young Queen Anne. Concini favoured his advancement, and even originated it, being determined to get rid of the barbons, Sillery, Jeannin, and Villeroy, who interfered with his authority, and who, as the king now approached the age of reason and independence, might venture to address and influence him.

* Mémoires de Pontchartrain.

CHAP.

XXVIII.

CHAP. XXVII

Concini all along displayed jealousy and mistrust of the young monarch, who showed him coldness at the same time with submission. Louis was fond of the chase, and would gladly have visited the different residences of the crown, or shown himself at the head of armies. But the Maréchal d'Ancre dreaded lest he should fall in with persons who would give him froward advice, or find himself in positions that might suggest independence. He therefore kept Louis almost altogether confined to the Louvre and Tuileries, and to the gardens between them, where he indulged in puerile occupations, making conduits, beating drums, erecting and demolishing puny fortifications. The queen mother was a party to this reclusion, and Louis sighed for his deliverance.

One of the young monarch's most dominant tastes was falconry, and as he was not allowed to follow it in the fields, he kept a number of these birds of prey in his apartments. A young man, of the name of Luynes, charged with the care of them, interested the king by his knowledge and conversation on such subjects. He soon became a favourite. And Marie de Medicis, who discovered the rising sun, made repeated offers to resign her authority, which Louis was not prepared to accept. She then sought to conciliate De Luynes, but he, ambitious and desirous of full power, held aloof, and continued in the king's presence to criticise the feeble administration of Marie and the prodigal folly of Concini.

The queen had recourse, in consequence, to Condé; and when he did not immediately repair to court, after the treaty of Loudun, sent Richelieu to induce him to do so. The bishop succeeded in bending the prince to his views, but was not so successful in a subsequent mission to the Dukes of Bouillon and Mayenne. They had conceived a different project. For whilst the Prince of Condé was willing to ally with the Maréchal

d'Ancre, and make use of his influence, the dukes and most of the grandees had come to the conclusion that the only way to get the better of Concini's influence and malignity was to slay him. The maréchal had himself set the example of violence, causing an officer, named Riberpré, to be attacked and killed in open day in the streets of Paris. He subsequently made a similar attempt on a citizen of the burgess guard, named Picard, whom he caused to be beaten nearly to death by his valets, for daring to stop his carriage as he entered Paris. The mob, which detested D'Ancre and Italians, rose in defence of Picard, seized the valets and had them hanged, whilst Concini, so far from being able to protect them, was obliged on the occasion to take flight himself. (June, 1616.)

In the month of July the Prince of Condé came to Paris, and found the plot of his brother grandees for the destruction of D'Ancre too much advanced and too firmly resolved for him to do more than delay and adjourn it. The court and the queen employed every means to conciliate the prince. He not only signed the decrees of the council, but appeared to be supreme at its sittings, and when the grandees insisted on a reformation of the same council, the prince declared that the queen had done everything to satisfy them. They did not agree in this opinion, and Condé, who could not separate his cause from theirs without being isolated, was obliged to chime in with their discontent, and to countenance their hatred of Concini. Condé was then so influential in court and at council, as well as over the malcontent grandees, that he seemed master of the monarchy, his palace being continually crowded with guests or suitors, whilst the Louvre was left comparatively deserted. Lord Hay, coming as English ambassador at the time, Condé fêted him to the utmost. Concini himself coming on one of these occasions to visit the prince, the assembled grandees were with difficulty

СНАР.

XXVIII

XXVIII.

CHAP. prevented by the latter from seizing so favourable an opportunity to immolate the maréchal. Condé would not allow him to be attacked in his palace, and subsequently warned him to quit the capital, as he could no longer ensure his safety.

In Condé's mind the ideas and wishes of his brother nobles soon overcame his adhesion and gratitude to the queen and Concini. He suffered proposals in his presence for getting rid of both, nay, he was said to have used and approved an expression, that of Barre à bas*, which implied a design of taking the young king's place, and becoming a competitor for his throne. The queen soon had proofs of their real intentions. The old movements of the League seemed renewed in Paris; the mob was excited against Concini, the burgess guard and the parliament provoked to rebel. The Duc de Longueville at the same time seized the fortress of Peronne, held by Concini. Condé assumed more and more the airs of a superior. "He is quite a king," observed Marie, "but we'll soon prove he is only king of the bean."

Sully, amongst others, came to warn the king that he was in danger. "What would you have me do ?" exclaimed Marie. "You would be safer in the country at the head of 1200 horse, than in the Louvre," said the veteran, repeating the words of Catherine de Medicis to Henry the Third. But Louis the Thirteenth had the very regiments which his father had formed, of which the officers were attached to his person, whilst Condé wanted altogether that hold, which fanaticism gave Guise, over the people, the parliament, and the gentry. The queen determined to arrest the prince, and as many of the grandees as she could seize with him, in the Louvre. Her timidity made her lose the first opportunity that offered. So that at last Themines, to whom she gave the order, was able only to arrest the prince.

* Removing the bar from his scutcheon, which alone distinguished it from that of the king.