MARIE DE MEDICIS AS REGENT

CHAPTER I

1610

Self-possession of Marie de Medicis--The Ducs de Guise and d'Epernon a.s.semble the n.o.bility--Precautions for the security of the metropolis--The first audience of the widowed Queen--Impolicy of Sully--The Duc d'Epernon announces to the Parliament the authorized 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 Duc d'Epernon--The Duke is suspected of having been an accessory to the a.s.sa.s.sination 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 the Parliament--Return of the Court to the Louvre--The Duc de Sully visits the Queen--Effect of his reception--The Princess-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--Reception 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 Duc de Bouillon in Paris--His quarrel with the Duc de Sully--They are reconciled--The Court attend a funeral service at Notre-Dame--Presumption of the Duc d'Epernon--Marie de Medicis devotes herself to state affairs--Jealousy of the Princes of the Blood and great n.o.bles--Marie endeavours to conciliate them--The Spanish Minister endeavours to prevent the return of the Prince de Conde--Without success--The Regent forms a council--Pretensions of the n.o.bles--The Duc 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 delicate position--A royal rebuke--Court favour--The visionary Government--Discontent 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 Duc 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 Duc de Bouillon--Munificence of the Regent to M. de Conde--The royal treasury--Venality of the French Princes--The English Amba.s.sador--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 Duc de Guise--The important doc.u.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 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 a.s.sent to the suggestions of her councillors. The Ducs de Guise and d'Epernon were instructed to mount upon the instant, and to a.s.semble as many of the n.o.bles 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 populace in the thoroughfares; while the guards who were distributed through the faubourgs were hastily concentrated 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'Epernon, de Villeroy, and de Lavardin demanded an audience of the august widow, at which, kneeling before her, they kissed her hand, and a.s.sured her of their unalterable devotion. Their example was imitated by all the great n.o.bles of the Court, with the sole exception of the Duc de Sully, who was encountered by Ba.s.sompierre in the Rue St. Antoine, accompanied by about forty mounted followers, and evidently in a state of intense 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 Ba.s.sompierre, who had 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 imperious 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 apprehension, he coldly saluted the group of n.o.bles, and retraced 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 Duc 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 desire the d.u.c.h.ess, his wife,[26] to hasten to the palace, and to offer to the Regent and her son his sincere condolence upon their irreparable misfortune.[27]

The Duc 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 a.s.sembled, and to inform its members 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 ensure 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 a.s.semble 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 Duc 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, recognize her right to the dignity thus conferred upon her.[28] This they immediately did; and 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 accompanied 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 bewildered by what was pa.s.sing 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 a.s.sembly that the King having just expired by the act of a most cruel, most inhuman, and most detestable regicide committed upon his sacred 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 concerning 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; The subject having been duly 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 the minority of the said Lord her son, with all power and authority.

"Done in Parliament, this 14th of May, 1610.

"(Signed) DU TILLET." [29]

During the course of the day guards had been sent to the residence of the several foreign amba.s.sadors, in order to protect them from the violence of the populace, 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 commands, 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 authorized the workmen to prepare 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.[30]

The parliamentary envoy having quitted the palace, and the crowd of n.o.bles, by whom its s.p.a.cious 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 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 n.o.bles 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 suddenly devolved upon her. Moreover, death is the moral crucible which cleanses from all dross the memories 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 a.s.sert 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 purchased? 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 exonerate 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 communications involving individuals who were openly named; she discouraged every report; and although among these the Duc 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 previously attained.

Indignant at this extraordinary supineness, the President de Harlay only increased his own efforts to unravel so painful a mystery; and refusing all credence to the a.s.sertion of the regicide that he had been self-prompted--an a.s.sertion to which he had perseveringly adhered amid torture, and even unto death, with a firmness truly marvellous under the circ.u.mstances--the zealous magistrate carefully examined every doc.u.ment that was laid before him, and interrogated 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 Duc 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 condemnation of their authors; these being, as he a.s.serted, 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."

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

"I have no friend," said the uncompromising minister. "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 despatched a n.o.bleman 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 circ.u.mstances so peculiar, only tended, however, to arouse M. de Harlay to an a.s.sumption 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-majeste_ 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." [31]

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 s.p.a.ce 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 immediately reached her, and that two of these especially appeared more credible than the guilt of a n.o.ble, 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 undermine 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 proposed 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 a.s.sa.s.sination; while another rumour, less generally disseminated, ascribed the act of Ravaillac to the impulse of personal revenge, elicited by the circ.u.mstance that Henry had first dishonoured and subsequently abandoned 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 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 overwhelmed 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 a.s.sa.s.sins; while even in the provinces several persons were arrested who had predicted before its occurrence 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.[32]

At eight o'clock on the morning succeeding the a.s.sa.s.sination of the King all the members of the different Chambers a.s.sembled in their scarlet robes and capes, the presidents wearing their cloaks and mortar-shaped caps; and half an hour afterwards the Chancellor, accompanied 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 being still enc.u.mbered 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 a.s.sent in the presence of his princes, dukes, peers, and officers of the Crown, to her a.s.sumption 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.[33]

Then arrived in rapid succession the Duc de Mayenne, 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 numerous retinue of princes, dukes, n.o.bles, 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 antic.i.p.ated only two days previously, blazing with jewels and clad in royal robes, but covered with an ample mourning drapery of black c.r.a.pe.

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 Duc de Guise, the Duc de Montmorency, the Duc d'Epernon, the Duc de Sully, all peers of France, and the Marechaux de Brissac,[34] de Lavardin, and de Bois-Dauphin;[35] 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 a.s.sembly, 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; a.s.suring them that it should be her study to induce the King to be guided by their counsels 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 considerable difficulty that she accomplished its utterance. More than once, suffocated by her grief, she was compelled to pause until she could regain her voice; and when at its close she drew her veil once more over her head, and prepared to leave the hall, the a.s.sembly 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 a.s.sured 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!" [36]

An hour or two subsequently Marie de Medicis accorded an audience to the Duc 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;[37] and he was accordingly introduced into the private apartment of the Queen, where he found her surrounded by the ladies of her household, and absorbed in grief. As he was announced she burst into a pa.s.sion of tears, and for a time was unable to welcome him; but having at length succeeded in controlling her emotion, she desired that the King should be brought to her; and he had no sooner appeared than she pointed out to him the Duc 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 remarked 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." [38]

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 Duc de Rohan, who had already advanced a day's march towards the capital.[39]

Meanwhile the Dowager-Princesse de Conde had hastened to inform her son of the a.s.sa.s.sination 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, containing the most earnest a.s.surances of his loyalty and devotion 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 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 recognized 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 complained that by the precipitation of the Parliament, he had been deprived of the privilege of signifying his a.s.sent 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 organize 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 a.s.sembly 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.[40]

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 16th of May, when he was met at the gate of the city by the Duc d'Epernon, at the head of a large body of the n.o.bility.

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 consisted 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 recognized and ratified, he had no other alternative save to offer his submission; which he did, moreover, with so good a grace that Marie bestowed upon him, in token of welcome, the government of Normandy, which had hitherto been held by the Dauphin; while a short time subsequently, when he manifested fresh symptoms of discontent, the Duc 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 hundred thousand crowns with which to pay a debt to the Duke of Savoy, contracted on the duchy of Moncalieri belonging to his wife. These exorbitant claims were at once admitted, and M. de Soissons forthwith declared himself the firm ally of the Queen.[41]

All the cities and provinces of the kingdom hastened to despatch deputations to the capital, to present their a.s.surances of respectful homage to the young sovereign, and to recognize 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 18th 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 perfectly unshaken; and on the 27th his sentence was p.r.o.nounced and executed with such barbarity that we shall avoid the detail.

On the following day the Duc 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 n.o.bility, 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 Duc de Sully, whom he accused of arrogance and presumption, reminding 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 apprehensions 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 subsequently completed through the good sense of the two n.o.bles themselves, who in their cooler moments reflected upon the injury which must accrue alike to the national interests and to those of the reformed religion, 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 a.s.sist 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 d.u.c.h.esses, and other great ladies of her household, under a strong escort of guards and harquebusiers, commanded by M. de la Chataigneraie. All the princ.i.p.al n.o.bility, 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 without the gates, when considerable excitement was created by the Duc d'Epernon, who, detaching himself from his followers, rode to the side of her carriage. As no Prince of the Blood had ever a.s.sumed this privilege, not even the Guises, lofty as were their pretensions, a general murmur arose among the a.s.sembled n.o.bles; but M. d'Epernon, regardless of this demonstration of displeasure, and aware that he had already obtained considerable influence over the mind of the Queen, retained his position, to the extreme indignation of the other Princes.[42]

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 princ.i.p.al n.o.bles, 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.[43] At the conclusion of the service, the Regent returned to the Louvre; and in the afternoon, attended as she had been on the previous occasion, she proceeded to perform her devotions in the church of St. Victor, amid the respectful salutations of the a.s.sembled populace.

The grief of the citizens still continued unabated, but it was apparent that a struggle for pre-eminence had already commenced among the higher cla.s.s. The 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 partic.i.p.ating in political questions as she had previously done with undisguised reluctance, she entered eagerly into public affairs, and sought earnestly to establish her authority; an attempt in which she was seconded by the princ.i.p.al ministers of state, who at once felt that by supporting her power they were consolidating 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 Duc de Nevers was commanding the army in Champagne, until he should be superseded by the arrival of the King in person, according to the arrangement 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 Duc de Guise should be enabled to procure 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 messengers to request their instant return; a summons which was promptly obeyed by the Duc de Nevers and all the princ.i.p.al officers under his command, as well as by M. de Joinville, who also received a pressing letter from the Duc 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 required time for them to do so;[44] and meanwhile the other great n.o.bles were anxious to shake off the control to which they had been subjected during the previous reign. Individual hatred came to the a.s.sistance 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 aggrandizement.[45]

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 exceptional 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 enforce his pretensions; and while he was thus endeavouring to shake the loyalty of his guest, the Spanish Amba.s.sador 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, destined to fail in their efforts, the Sovereign-Pontiff declining to interfere in so extreme a case, and the Prince resolutely refusing to adopt the course thus treacherously suggested.

At Brussels the persecution was renewed by the Spanish minister, seconded by the Papal Nuncio, Cardinal Bentivoglio,[46] 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, accompanied by her step-sister the Comtesse d'Auvergne, and where she had been warmly and honourably welcomed by the Queen.[47]