The affair of Montferrato—Intrigues of Concini with Charles Emmanuel of Savoy—Arrest of Concini’s agent Maignan—Bassompierre warns the Italian favourite of his danger and advises him to throw himself on the clemency of the Queen-Mother—Concini follows his advice, and is pardoned and shielded by Marie de’ Medici, while his agent is executed—Bassompierre goes to Rouen, where the d’Entragues’ action against him is to be heard—The Regent recommends his cause to the judges—The d’Entragues object to the constitution of the court, and the case is adjourned—Duplicity of Concini—He intrigues to ruin Bassompierre with the Queen-Mother—Semi-disgrace of Bassompierre—He is reconciled with Marie de’ Medici—He is appointed Colonel-General of the Swiss—The Princes surprise Mézières—Peace of Saint-Menehould—Bassompierre accompanies Louis XIII and the Queen-Mother to the West.
In the spring trouble arose with Charles Emmanuel of Savoy, who was disputing the claim of Ferdinando di Gonzaga to the throne of Mantua, and had invaded Montferrato. The French Government, judging it dangerous to allow the Duke of Savoy, an uncertain friend and a possible enemy, to get possession of Casale, one of the strongest places in Italy, announced its intention of supporting Ferdinando, and Concini, on the pretext that it was desirable that France should present a united front in the event of hostilities breaking out, persuaded Marie de’ Medici to summon the Princes to Court. Spain, however, in order to prevent French intervention in Italy, hastened to send orders to the Governor of the Milanese to compel Charles Emmanuel to abandon his prey, and that prince, recognising the impossibility of resistance, evacuated Montferrato.
It was believed, for a moment, that the affair of Montferrato would bring about the ruin of the Concini. The Duke of Savoy, to assure the neutrality of France, had succeeded in corrupting the Italian favourites of the Queen and several other prominent persons, and had kept up an active correspondence with Concini, the agent employed by the latter being a priest named Maignan. An intercepted letter caused the arrest of this man, who, in the admissions that were extorted from him, comprised Concini, his creature the advocate Dolet, and the Marquis de Cœuvres.
On the day Maignan was arrested, Bassompierre, who was with the Court at Fontainebleau, happened to sup with Zamet, where he met Loménie, the Secretary of State. It had been Loménie’s duty to be present at the first examination of the prisoner, and he told Bassompierre of the serious admissions that the man had made and the names he had mentioned. He added that he was to be examined further on the following morning, when doubtless still more interesting revelations would be forthcoming.
Now, Bassompierre was on intimate terms with Concini, for, though he would appear to have despised him heartily, the Italian’s influence with the Queen made him a valuable friend, besides which he was in the habit of winning large sums from him at play. He accordingly decided to warn him of the danger which threatened him, and went that same night to his house, but was told that he was in bed and could not be disturbed. He had therefore to wait until the following day, when he stopped him as he was about to enter the chapel to hear the Whit-Sunday sermon, invited him to take a turn in the cloisters, and, so soon as they were alone, inquired bluntly: “Who is Maignay?”
“At these words, utterly astounded, he said to me: ‘Pourquoi, Mousou, de Masnay? Que sol dir Magnat? Che cosa e Maignat?’ ‘You are deceiving me,’ I rejoined. ‘You know him better than I do, and you pretend to know nothing about him.’ ‘Per Dio, Mousou!’ he exclaimed, ‘I do not know Magnat; I do not understand what you mean; I do not know who he is.’ ‘Monsieur, Monsieur,’ said I, ‘I speak to you as your servant and friend, not as a judge or a commissioner. Maignan was arrested yesterday and examined forthwith, again in the evening, and this morning for the third time. He was arrested in the act of posting a packet of letters, which speaks of many things and mentions persons by their names. If you are aware of it already, I have only lost time in telling you; but, if you are not, I think that, as your servant, I gain much by warning you of it, in order that you may extricate M. Dolet from this affair, in which people will endeavour to involve him.’ He said to me, very confused: ‘I, Mousou, I do not think that M. Dolet knows who Magnat is. It is no concern of mine.’ ‘Monsieur,’ I replied, ‘I shall only take in this affair the part which you wish to give me in order to serve you; that is my sole object and intention.’ He thanked me and left me abruptly.”
That afternoon the Queen went for a drive in the park, and Bassompierre accompanied her, occupying a seat in the Grand Equerry’s coach. As they were driving by the side of the canal, one of Concini’s gentlemen came galloping up and informed Bassompierre that his master wished to see him immediately, and he sprang from his horse and offered it him. “Ah! he wants to win my money,” remarked Bassompierre, as he prepared to mount; and when the Queen inquired where he was going, he replied that he was going to play cards with the Marquis d’Ancre. He rode back to the palace, and found Concini awaiting him in the Cour Ovale.
“He led me,” he writes, “into the Queen’s gallery, shut the door upon us and walked to the end of it without speaking a word. At length, drawing himself up, he said: ‘M. Bassompier, my good friend, I am undone; my enemies have gained the ascendancy over the Queen’s mind, in order to ruin me.’ Thereupon he began to utter strange blasphemies and wept bitterly. I allowed him to rave a little, and then said to him: ‘Monsieur, it is no time to swear and to weep when affairs press; you must open your heart and reveal the wound to the friend to whom you desire to entrust its cure. I imagine that you sent for me to tell me of the evil, not to bewail it.’ ‘The Ministers have reduced me to extremities,’ he replied; ‘they desire to ruin me and M. Dolet likewise.’ ”
Bassompierre told him that he had many remedies against the enmity of the Ministers, of which the most efficacious were the good graces of the Queen, which he would undoubtedly possess when he returned to his duty and abandoned all practices which were not agreeable to her Majesty. He had also, he continued, his innocence to plead for him, and, if that were not as complete as might be desired, it would be advisable to interview, and come to some arrangement with, the commissioners who had the examination of Maignan in hand (for he did not doubt that that was his present difficulty), and “to have recourse to the kindness and compassion of the Queen, who would receive him, he felt assured, with open arms, provided he spoke to her with sincerity of heart and an entire resignation to her will.”
Concini followed his advice and proceeded to throw himself upon the clemency of the Queen, “in whom he found all kinds of gentleness and kindness.” Marie de’ Medici, indeed, was unable to dispense with either the husband or the wife. “The one,” observes Henri Martin, “dominated her by habit and by the superiority of an active and restless mind over a mind indolent and dull; the other probably by a warmer feeling.”[98] She accepted all their excuses; the two commissioners by whom Maignan was tried suppressed everything which might compromise Concini and his accomplices;[99] and while the unfortunate agent was condemned to death and broken on the wheel, the man who had employed him—this precious rascal who had sought to betray the country upon which he had so long been battening—was raised to new honours. The Queen only exacted from him that he should be reconciled with the Ministers and definitely abandon the party of the Princes. And, as the price of his obedience, she gave him, in the following November, the bâton of a marshal of France![100]