In March, 1627, the Seigneur de Boutteville, a member of the great House of Montmorency and one of the most notorious bretteurs of the time, had an “affair” with the Marquis de la Frette, captain of Monsieur’s guards, in which Boutteville’s second, a gentleman named Bachoy, was killed. As this was not the first occasion on which M. de Boutteville had defied the edict,[104] the King, in high indignation, ordered Bassompierre to send three companies of the Swiss Guards to invest the delinquent’s château of Précy-sur-Oise, to which he was reported to have retired, and sent the Grand Provost with them to arrest him. When, however, the Grand Provost and the Swiss reached Précy, they found that their bird had flown and had taken refuge in Lorraine.
If Boutteville had had the sense to remain there until the affair had blown over, all might have been well, as in his duel with La Frette he had not been the aggressor. But, indignant at the sentence of exile which had been pronounced against him, he boasted that he would fight his next duel in the middle of the Place-Royale. This bravado he duly accomplished some weeks later, and his second, the Comte des Chapelles, killed Bussy d’Amboise, who was acting in the same capacity to Boutteville’s adversary, the Marquis de Beuvron.[105] Beuvron fled to Italy, while Boutteville and Des Chapelles made for Lorraine; but, on their way, they stopped for a night at Vitré-le-Français, of which place Bussy d’Amboise had been governor, and the mother of the dead man, who had sent one of her servants after them, learning of their arrival, informed the authorities of the town, who caused them to be arrested.
Boutteville and Des Chapelles—the latter was also a Montmorency, on his mother’s side—were conducted to the Bastille and brought to trial before the Parlement. The Procurator-General was instructed to demand the extreme penalty, and they were both condemned to death. What was more, the sentence was duly carried out, for, notwithstanding the entreaties and remonstrances of all the great nobles in France, the King, thanks to Richelieu’s efforts, was inexorable, and on June 22, 1627, they were beheaded in the Place de Grève.[106]
This most necessary example had, for a time, a very salutary effect, for, however reckless men might be, few cared to face the executioner’s axe. But after Richelieu’s death the practice was renewed, and, though it never attained to anything like the proportions it had reached in the early part of the seventeenth century, duels were still both numerous and sanguinary, as will be gathered from the fact that during the eight years of Anne of Austria’s regency more than a thousand gentlemen lost their lives in them.
On May 29 Madame gave birth to a daughter—the celebrated Mlle. de Montpensier—“contrary to the expectation and the desire of their Majesties and of Monsieur her husband, who would have preferred a son.” The poor lady only survived the birth of her little daughter a few days, and her death cast a gloom over the Court, and from a political point of view was most unfortunate, since it afforded Richelieu’s many enemies an opportunity for fresh intrigues.
About the same time, news arrived of the formidable armament which Buckingham was assembling at Portsmouth, and the French Government did not doubt that the duke was meditating a descent upon the western coast of France, and that his arrival there would be the signal for the Rochellois and probably the bulk of the Huguenots to take up arms. No time, therefore, was lost in assembling an army in Poitou, and Louis XIII gave the command to Monsieur, and appointed Bassompierre and Schomberg as his lieutenant-generals. The King decided also to go to the West himself, and on June 28—the day after Buckingham’s expedition sailed from Portsmouth—he left Paris.
On the morning of his departure, he went with Bassompierre to the Arsenal to inspect the artillery, and then proceeded to the Parlement to take leave of that body and to hold a Bed of Justice for the purpose of securing the registration of the Code Michaut.[107] At the conclusion of the ceremony Bassompierre gave him his hand to assist him to descend from his seat, upon which the King remarked: “Marshal, I have an attack of fever coming on, and did nothing but tremble the whole time I was on my Bed of Justice.” “That is, nevertheless, the place where you make others tremble,” replied the ready courtier; “but if that be the case, Sire, why are you going into the country with a fever upon you? Remain here for two or three days.” Louis, however, declared that it was the crowd of persons who had come to take leave of him that day which had caused him to feel ill, and that, so soon as he got into the country, he would probably be better. But he told Bassompierre to send one of his servants after him to Marolles, where he was to sleep that night, and he would send him news of his health. Meantime, he was to hasten his preparations for leaving Paris, as he wished him to join him so soon as possible.
Next day, the servant whom Bassompierre had sent after the King reported on his return that he had left his Majesty just entering his coach to go to the Château of Villeroy, and that he had bidden him inform his master that he was worse and desired him to come and see him on the morrow.
In the morning, accordingly, Bassompierre, accompanied by Guise, Chevreuse, and Saint-Luc, who had asked to come with him, started for Villeroy. On their arrival at the château they were met by Richelieu, “with whom,” says the marshal, “I had fallen out a little”—who, after greeting the princes, turned to Bassompierre and said: “The King would be very pleased to see you, but he is in such a condition that the company which has come with you would inconvenience him. He has broken out in a great perspiration. That is why I advise you not to see him. I will inform him that you have come, and will convey the compliments of these princes to him.” With which he went back to the King’s chamber, and Bassompierre and his friends returned to Paris.
As he was leaving the château, Bassompierre learned that the Duc d’Angoulême was with the King, but he did not attach any importance to this at the time. However, the next day, in Paris, he met that prince riding in his coach, when Angoulême stopped, alighted and embraced the marshal, saying: “I bid you adieu, as I am leaving in two hours’ time for Poitou.” “For what purpose?” inquired Bassompierre. “To command the army there,” was the reply.