The Life of Marie de Medicis, Queen of France, Consort of Henri IV, and Regent of the Kingdom under Louis XIII — Volume 1 · Chapter 61572 (4)
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[26] Brantôme, Dames Illustres, Marguerite de France, Reine de Navarre, Dis. v. p. 275.
[27] "There are three things," Henri IV was wont to say, "that the world will not believe, and yet they are certainly true: that the Queen of England (Elizabeth) died a maid; that the Archduke (Albert, Cardinal and Archduke of Austria) is a great captain; and that the King of France is a very good Catholic."--L'Etoile, Journ. de Henri IV, vol. i. p. 233.
[28] Diane d'Andouins, Vicomtesse de Louvigni, dame de l'Escun, was the only daughter of Paul, Vicomte de Louvigni, Seigneur de l'Escun, and of Marguerite de Cauna. While yet a mere girl, she became the wife of Philibert de Grammont, Comte de Guiche, Governor of Bayonne, and Seneschal of Béarn. The passion of Henri IV for this lady was so great that he declared his intention of obtaining a divorce from Marguerite de Valois, for the purpose of making her his wife; a project from which he was dissuaded by D'Aubigny, who represented that the contempt which could not fail to be felt by the French for a monarch who had degraded himself by an alliance with his mistress, would inevitably deprive him of the throne in the event of the death of Henri III and the Duc d'Alençon.
[29] Gabrielle d'Estrées was the daughter of Antoine d'Estrées, fourth of the name, Governor, Seneschal, and first Baron of Boulonnois, Vicomte de Soissons and Bersy, Marquis de Coeuvres, Knight of the Orders of the King, Governor of La Fère, Paris, and the Isle of France; and of Françoise Babou, second daughter of Jean, Seigneur de la Bourdaisière, and of Françoise Robertet. She married at an early age, by the desire of her father, who was anxious to protect her from the assiduities of the King, Nicolas d'Armeval, Seigneur de Liancourt, who was, alike in birth, in person, and in fortune, unworthy of her hand. This ill-assorted union produced the very result which it was intended to avert, for Henry found means to separate the young couple immediately after their marriage, and to attach Gabrielle to the Court, where she soon became the declared favourite. On the birth of her first child (César, Duc de Vendôme), Madame de Liancourt abandoned the name of her husband, from whom she obtained a divorce, and assumed that of Marquise de Monceaux, which she derived from an estate presented to her on that occasion by the King; and on the legitimation of her son in January 1595, she already aspired to the throne, and formed a party, headed by M. de Sillery, by whom her pretensions were encouraged. She was subsequently created Duchesse de Beaufort, and became the mother of Catherine-Henriette, married to the Duc d'Elboeuf, and of Alexandre de Vendôme, Grand Prior of France, who were likewise legitimated. She died in childbirth, but not without suspicion of poison, on Easter Eve, in the year 1599.
[30] Henri de la Tour, Vicomte de Turenne, Duc de Bouillon, Peer and Marshal of France.
[31] Théodore Agrippa d'Aubigny was the son of Jean d'Aubigny, Seigneur de Brie, in Xaintonge, and of Catherine de Lestang, and was born on the 8th of February 1550. At the age of six years he read with equal facility the Latin, Greek, and Hebrew languages; and eighteen months afterwards translated the Crito of Plato. The persecutions of the Huguenots, which he witnessed in his early youth, and the solemn injunctions of his father to revenge their wrongs, rendered him one of the most zealous and uncompromising reformers under Henri IV. He died at Geneva on the 20th of April 1630, aged eighty years, and was buried in the cloisters of St. Pierre. D'Aubigny left behind him not only his own memoirs, which are admirably and truthfully written, but also the biting satire known as the Aventures du Baron de Foeneste, and the still more celebrated Confession de Sancy.
[32] Isabella Clara Eugenia, Infanta of Spain, was the second daughter of Philip II. She was the Gouvernante of the Low Countries; and although no longer either young or handsome, she possessed an extraordinary influence over her royal father, who was tenderly attached to her.
[33] Arabella Stuart, daughter of Charles, Earl of Lennox, the grandson of Margaret of Scotland, sister to Henry VIII.
[34] Isabeau de Bavière, Queen of Charles VI.
[35] Maurice of Nassau, Prince of Orange, second son of William, and of Anne, the daughter of Maurice, Elector of Saxony.
[36] Marie de Medicis was the daughter of Francis, Grand Duke of Tuscany, and of Jane, Archduchess of Austria and Queen of Hungary, daughter of the Emperor Ferdinand.
[37] Louise-Marguerite de Lorraine was the daughter of Henri, Duc de Guise, surnamed le Balafré, and of Catherine of Clèves, subsequently Duchesse de Nemours. She was celebrated alike for her extreme beauty, her brilliant wit, and her great intellect. She wrote admirably for that age, and was the author of the Histoire des Amours du Grand Alcandre, and of some Court Chronicles, which she published under the patronymic of Dupilaust. Mademoiselle de Guise married François, Prince de Conti, son of the celebrated Louis, Prince de Condé, who was killed at Jarnac.
[38] Catherine de Lorraine, daughter of Charles, Duc de Mayenne, and of Henriette de Savoie-Villars, who became in February 1599 the wife of Charles de Gonzague, Duc de Nevers, and subsequently Duke of Mantua. She died on the 8th of March 1618, at the age of thirty-three years; and was consequently, at the period referred to in the text, only seventeen years old.
[39] Anne, daughter and heiress of Charles, last Duc d'Aumale, by whom the duchy was transferred to the house of Savoy.
[40] Mademoiselle de Longueville was the sister of Henri d'Orléans, first Duc de Longueville.
[41] Catherine de Rohan, second daughter of Réné II, Vicomte de Rohan, and of Catherine, the daughter and heiress of Jean de Parthenay, Seigneur de Soubise. When she had subsequently become the wife of the Duc de Deux-Ponts, Henry IV was so enamoured of her as to make dishonourable proposals, to which she replied by the memorable answer: "I am too poor, Sire, to be your wife, and too well-born to become your mistress."
[42] Diane de Luxembourg, who, in 1600-1, gave her hand to Louis de Ploësqueler, Comte de Kerman, in Brittany.
[43] Mademoiselle de Guéménée was the daughter of Louis de Rohan, Prince de Guéménée, first Duc de Montbazon.
[44] Sully, Mém. vol. iii. pp. 162-174.
[45] Denys de Marquemont, Archbishop of Lyons, and subsequently cardinal (1626). He did not, however, long enjoy this dignity, to obtain which he had exerted all his energies, as he died at the close of the same year. He was a truckling politician, and an ambitious priest.
[46] Arnaud d'Ossat was born in 1536 at Cassagnaberre, a small village of Armagnac, near Auch. His parents lived in great indigence during his infancy, and at nine years of age he became an orphan, totally destitute. He was placed as an attendant about the person of a young gentleman of family, whose studies he shared with such success that, from the fellow-student of his patron, he became his tutor. After some time he accompanied his employer to Paris, where by persevering industry he completed his education, and was enabled to give lessons in philosophy and rhetoric. He then proceeded to Bourges, where he studied legal jurisprudence under the famous Cujas. Paul de Foix, Archbishop of Toulouse, when about to proceed as ambassador to Rome, engaged him as his secretary; and while there, he embraced the ecclesiastical profession, and rendered himself perfectly conversant with the whole policy of the Papal Court. Henri III bestowed upon him the Abbey of Notre-Dame de Varennes, but, as his claim was contested, he immediately resigned it. Subsequently he was raised to the bishopric of Rennes, was created a cardinal in 1598, and some time afterwards was appointed to the see of Bayeux. His untiring devotion to the interests of France was ultimately recognized by his elevation to the dignity of minister under Henri IV.
[47] Jacques Davy Duperron was born at Berne in 1556, and being learned in mathematics, Greek, Hebrew, and philosophy, he became a professor of those sciences in Paris, where he obtained the appointment of reader to Henri III. Having embraced the ecclesiastical profession, he received from Henri IV (in 1591) the bishopric of Evreux, as a recompense for his devotion to the interests of Gabrielle d'Estrées. It was Duperron who obtained from the Pope the removal of the interdict fulminated against France. He ultimately became a cardinal, and Archbishop of Sens, and died in 1606.
[48] Henri de Luxembourg, Duc de Piney, was the descendant of the celebrated Comte de Saint-Pol, and that branch of the family became extinct in his person. He died in 1616.
[49] Nicolas Brulart, Seigneur de Sillery, was the elder son of Pierre Brulart, president of the Court of Requests at Paris. He obtained the office of court-councillor in 1573, and subsequently that of master of the Court of Requests. Henry IV, after his accession to the throne of France, appointed him ambassador to Switzerland; and on his return from that country, made him sixth president, that dignity having become vacant by the death of Jean Le Maître. In 1598 he was one of the deputies by whom the peace of Vervins was concluded; and from thence he proceeded to Brussels with the Duc de Biron, to be present when the Archduke swore to the observance of the treaty. He next visited Italy as ambassador extraordinary to the Pope, where he negotiated the marriage of the King with Marie de Medicis. In 1604 Henri IV created in his favour the office of keeper of the seals of France; and finally, on the death of the Chancelier de Bellièvre, he became his successor.
[50] Sully, Mém. vol. iii. pp. 189, 190.
[51] "Comme s'il fût revenu d'extase," says Péréfixe, vol. ii. p. 300.
[52] In April 1599.
[53] Bernard de Montfaucon. Les Monumens de la Monarchie Française, Paris, 1733, in folio, vol. v. p. 396.
[54] Horace del-Monte.
[55] Mézeray, vol. x. p. 123.
[56] Maintenon, Mém., Amsterdam, 1756, vol. ii. p. 115.
[57] Roger de St. Larry, Duc de Bellegarde, was the favourite of three successive sovereigns. Henri III appointed him master of his wardrobe, and subsequently first gentleman of the chamber, and grand equerry. Henri IV made him a knight of his Orders in 1595; and ultimately Louis XIII continued to him an equal amount of favour. The preservation of Quilleboeuf, which he defended with great gallantry during the space of three weeks, with only forty-five soldiers and ten nobles, against the army of the Duc de Mayenne, acquired for him a renown which he never afterwards forfeited.
[58] Henri, Comte, and subsequently Duc, de Lude, was the last male representative of his family. He was appointed grand-master of the artillery in 1669, and died without issue in 1685.
[59] Jean de St. Larry de Thermes, brother of the Duc d'Aiguillon.
[60] Jacques, Marquis de Castelnau, subsequently Marshal of France, who, in 1658, commanded the left wing of the army at the battle of the Dunes, and died the same year, at the early age of thirty-eight.
[61] François de Paule de Clermont, Marquis de Montglat, first maître d'hôtel to the King.
[62] M. de Frontenac was one of the officers of Henry IV who, before his accession to the throne of France (in 1576), had a quarrel with M. de Rosny, during which he told him that if he were to pull his nose, he could only draw out milk; a taunt to which the future minister replied by an assurance that he felt strong enough to draw blood out of that of his adversary with his sword. The peculiarity of this quarrel existed in the fact that, although De Rosny was a Protestant, and Frontenac a Catholic, M. de Turenne nevertheless espoused the cause of the latter; upon which M. de Lavardin, a Catholic, declared himself ready to second the arms of the adverse party.
[63] François, Baron de Bassompierre, was the son of Christophe de Bassompierre and Louise de Radeval, and was born on the 12th of April 1579, at the château of Harouel, in Lorraine. He became at an early age the intimate companion and favourite of Henri IV, by whom he was appointed colonel-general of the Swiss troops. In the year 1603 he was made Marshal of France, and obtained great influence over both Marie de Medicis and her son Louis XIII. Richelieu, who became jealous of his favour, caused him to be imprisoned in the Bastille in 1631, where he remained for twelve years. He was an able diplomatist, a distinguished general, and a polished, though dissolute, courtier. He acquitted himself with great distinction in several sieges, and at his death, which occurred in 1646, he bequeathed to posterity his personal memoirs, which are among the most curious in the rich collections possessed by his countrymen.
[64] Rambure, unpublished Mém., 1599, vol. i. pp. 151, 152.
[65] Catherine Henriette de Balzac d'Entragues, subsequently known as the Marquise de Verneuil, was the elder daughter of the celebrated Marie Touchet, who, after having been the mistress of Charles IX, became the wife of François de Balzac, Seigneur d'Entragues, de Marcoussis and de Malesherbes, Governor of Orleans, who was, in 1573, elected a knight of St. Michael by Henri III. Henriette, as her name implies, was, together with her two sisters, the issue of this marriage; while her half-brother the Comte d'Auvergne, subsequently Duc d'Angoulême, was the son of Charles IX.
[66] Saint--Edmé, Amours et Galanteries des Rois de France, Brussels, vol. ii. pp. 199, 200.
[67] Louise Marguerite de Lorraine, the widow of Henri III, was the elder daughter of Nicolas de Lorraine, Duc de Mercoeur, Comte de Vaudemont, and of the Marquise d'Egmont, his first wife. Henri III having seen her at Rheims, during his temporary residence in that city, became enamoured of her person, and their marriage took place on the 5th of February 1575. François de Luxembourg, of the House of Brienne, had for some time paid his addresses to Mademoiselle de Lorraine, with the hope and intention of making her his wife; a fact which the licentious and frivolous King no sooner ascertained than he declared his inclination to effect an alliance between the disappointed suitor and his own mistress, Mademoiselle de Châteauneuf, for whom he was anxious to provide through this medium. He consequently proposed the arrangement to M. de Luxembourg on the day of his coronation, but received the cold and firm reply that the Count felt himself bound to congratulate Mademoiselle de Lorraine on her good fortune, since by changing her lover she had also been enabled to increase her dignity; but that, as regarded himself, since he could derive no benefit whatever from becoming the husband of Mademoiselle de Châteauneuf, he begged that his Majesty would excuse him from contracting such an alliance. The King, however, declared that he would admit of no refusal, and insisted upon his instant obedience; whereupon M. de Luxembourg demanded eight days to make the necessary preparations, to which Henry demurred, and it was finally arranged that he should be allowed three days for that purpose, after which he was to hold himself prepared to obey the royal command. These three days sufficed to enable the intended victim to make his escape, and he accordingly left the kingdom. His sarcasm against herself had so deeply irritated Queen Louise that after the death of her husband she entreated Henri IV to revenge her injured dignity upon her former suitor, but the monarch declined to aid in any further persecution of the unfortunate young noble. The married life of the Queen was a most unhappy one, and appeared to have entirely disgusted her with the world, as on becoming a widow she passed two years of seclusion and mourning at Chenonceaux, whence she removed to the château of Moulins, where she devoted herself to the most austere duties of religion. In her will, by which she bequeathed nearly the whole of her property to the Church and to charitable purposes, she left a large sum for the erection of a Capuchin convent at Bourges, where she desired that she might be ultimately interred; but by command of Henri IV the convent was built in the Faubourg St. Honoré, at Paris, and her body deposited in the chapel.
[68] Sully, Mém. vol. iii. p. 312.
[69] Saint-Edmé, p. 200.
[70] Equal, in the present day, to nearly five hundred thousand livres.
[71] Charles de Valois, the son of Charles IX and Marie Touchet, Dame de Belleville. He was subsequently Duc d'Angoulême and Grand Prior of France. He died in 1639.
[72] Dreux du Radier, vol. vi. pp. 62, 63. Saint-Edmé, pp. 201, 202.
[73] Sully, Mém. vol. iii. pp. 313, 314.
[74] Sully, Mém. vol. iii. p. 315.
[75] Mézeray, vol. x. p. 124.