The duchy of Mantua had not been seriously attacked, the Spaniards and the Piedmontese having concentrated their efforts on the conquest of Montferrato. Charles Emmanuel had promptly seized upon his share of the spoil; but the governor of Milan, Don Gonzalez de Cordoba, had shown little skill and less energy in the conduct of his operations, and had been unable to prevent Casale, gallantly defended by the French volunteers, from being revictualled on several occasions. However, the town was now being closely besieged, and though the garrison, ably seconded by the citizens, could be trusted to offer a stubborn resistance, it was imperative that help should arrive with as little delay as possible.
Richelieu had, however, to gain a new victory at the Court before being able to go to the succour of the allies of France beyond the Alps. The Queen-Mother, who hated the Gonzaga family, and had an old grudge against the Duc de Nevers, now become Duke of Mantua, strenuously opposed the intervention of France in the affairs of Italy. Indifferent to the fact that neither the honour nor the interest of France would permit the sacrifice of such old allies as the Gonzagas, she urged that the King ought to permit the aggrandisement of the House of Savoy, the heir of which was the husband of his sister. The High Catholic party in the Council, indignant that Richelieu, instead of devoting himself to crushing the remnant of the Huguenots, proposed to make war on the King of Spain, supported her warmly; and it is not improbable that their combined efforts might have been successful, had not the astute Cardinal had recourse to an expedient which he had already employed with success on more than one previous occasion.
First, he presented to the King a memorial, in which he outlined the policy, foreign and domestic, which he considered it essential that his Majesty should follow for his own glory and the welfare of his realm. Then, in his character of priest, he pointed out, with audacious frankness, the grave defects in his Majesty’s character: his idleness, his inconstancy, his neglect of even his most faithful and devoted servants, and so forth, which it was most necessary he should endeavour to remedy if he
desired to be a great king. And, finally, he tendered his resignation, on the pretext that his health was no longer equal to the cares of office.
Richelieu had little doubt what the answer would be. Louis, aware of his personal incapacity, and unwilling to renounce the power and glory which his great Minister had promised him, and which, as he well knew, he alone was capable of securing for him, accepted his advice and refused his resignation.
Marie de’ Medici, finding herself unable to prevent the Italian expedition, demanded for Monsieur the command of the army, under the pretext of saving the King from the hardships and dangers of a winter campaign in the Alps. Richelieu did not see his way to oppose the Queen-Mother’s request, and Louis consented; but his jealousy of his brother soon asserted itself, and, to the intense mortification of Marie and Monsieur, the arrangement was cancelled.
“After the King had given him [Monsieur] this command,” writes Bassompierre, “he fancied that the glory which Monsieur his brother was going to acquire in this expedition would be detrimental to his own (so much power has jealousy amongst near relations), and his head, or more properly his heart, was so full of this idea that he could not rest. On the 3rd of January he came to Chaillot, where by chance I had come to see the Cardinal, who was then staying there, and, being closeted with him, began to tell him that he could not suffer his brother to go to command his army beyond the mountains. The Cardinal said that there was only one way of cancelling the appointment, which was for the King to go himself, and that, if he resolved upon this step, he must set out in a week at the furthest. To this he cordially assented and, at the same time, turned round and called me from the other end of the room. As I approached, he said: ‘Here is a man who will go with me and serve me well.’ I asked him where. ‘Into Italy,’ said he, ‘where I am going in a week to make them raise the siege of Casale. Get ready to go and to serve me as my lieutenant-general, under my brother, if he chooses to go.’ Upon this the King returned to Paris and informed the Queen-Mother, and she informed Monsieur, who was not best pleased at the arrangement. Nevertheless, he affected to be so and got ready to depart.”
On January 15, 1629, Louis XIII, having entrusted to Marie de’ Medici the task of pursuing the negotiations for peace with England, left Paris for Grenoble, where the army with which he proposed to enter Italy was assembled.