CHAPTER XXXIX
Serious situation of affairs in Italy—Trouble with Monsieur—Richelieu entrusted with the command of the Army in Italy—It is decided to send Bassompierre on a special embassy to Switzerland—The marshal buys the Château of Chaillot—His departure for Switzerland—Mazarin at Lyons—Bassompierre’s reception at Fribourg—He arrives at Soleure and convenes a meeting of the Diet—His discomfiture of the Chancellor of Alsace—Success of his mission—He receives orders from Richelieu to mobilise 6,000 Swiss—The Cardinal as generalissimo—Pinerolo surrenders—Bassompierre joins the King at Lyons—Louis XIII and Mlle. de Hautefort—Successful campaign of Bassompierre in Savoy—His mortification at having to resign his command to the Maréchal de Châtillon—Increasing rancour of the Queen-Mother against Richelieu—Visit of Bassompierre to Paris—An unfortunate coincidence—Louis XIII falls dangerously ill at Lyons—Intrigues around his sick-bed—Perilous situation of Richelieu—Recovery of the King—Arrival of Bassompierre at Lyons—Suspicions of Richelieu concerning the marshal—The latter endeavours to disarm them—Question of Bassompierre’s connection with the anti-Richelieu cabal considered—His secret marriage to the Princesse de Conti.
Meantime, the enemies of France had not been idle. Seeing Richelieu engaged in what he imagined would prove a long war in Languedoc, the Emperor, in concert with Spain, resolved to take steps to recover his shaken influence in Italy. Towards the end of May, 1629, German troops entered the Grisons and seized the passages of the Rhine and the town of Coire; while Ferdinand called upon Louis XIII to evacuate the “Imperial fiefs of Italy.” The Swiss, a prey to religious dissensions, made no effort to expel the foreigner from the Grisons; but the Imperialists did not advance until the autumn, the interval being spent in negotiations. However, at the end of September they descended into Lombardy and invaded Mantua, under the orders of the Italian general Colalto; while Spinola, who had been sent with a Spanish force from the Netherlands to secure the triumph of the Catholic powers in Italy and had replaced the feeble Don Gonzalez de Cordoba as Governor of the Milanese, occupied Montferrato and threatened Casale.
It was clear that France must intervene at once, if the fruits of the expedition to Susa were not to be lost, and it was decided to send a powerful army into Italy. Louis XIII would have gone in person, but his health was unequal to the trials of another winter campaign, besides which there was trouble with Monsieur, who, in the previous September, as the result of differences with the King over the latter’s refusal to permit his marriage with Marie de Gonzaga, daughter of the Duke of Mantua, had retired into Lorraine and had not yet been persuaded to return; while there was also a possibility that the Imperialists might invade Champagne or the Three Bishoprics.
The King accordingly decided to entrust the command to Richelieu, with Créquy and Bassompierre as his lieutenant-generals.
“But,” says the latter, “M. de Schomberg, who aspired to my charge, caused pressing instances to be made by the ambassadors of Venice and Mantua to send me into Switzerland, for three purposes: the first, to ascertain what means there might be to liberate the Grisons and drive out the Imperial army; the second, to prevent the Imperialists in Italy being reinforced by troops from Switzerland; and the third, to raise powerful levies, if there were need of them. So that the Cardinal told me one morning that it was necessary for me to make a journey into Switzerland, which would not last long, and that my place and my charge would, notwithstanding, be preserved in the Army of Italy. I accepted this commission, since the King desired to charge me with it, and began preparations for my journey, as did the Cardinal likewise for his journey to Italy.”
Before his departure Richelieu gave “a superb fête to the King and the Queens, with comedies, ballets, and excellent music.” Then, on December 29, he set out for Lyons, with the proud title of “Lieutenant-General, representing the person of the King in his army within and without the realm.”
Bassompierre began the year 1630 by purchasing from the widow of Président Jeannin her château at Chaillot, upon the enlargement and decoration of which he, during the next few months, expended very large sums, and converted it into one of the most sumptuous country-residences in the neighbourhood of Paris. Unhappily for him, it was to prove a case of sowing for others to reap. On January 16, “after having placed his affairs in some degree of order,” he set out for Switzerland, and on the 21st arrived at Lyons, where he was to receive his final instructions from the Cardinal. At Lyons he remained for some days and would appear to have passed the time very pleasantly, as “M. de Montmorency and I gave a ball on alternate evenings to the ladies of Lyons.” On January 28 he notes that “the sieur Julio Massareny [Giulio Mazzarini] came to Lyons on behalf of the Nuncio Pensirole [Pancirolo], whom the Pope had sent to treat for peace.” It was on the occasion of these negotiations that the name of Mazarin makes its first appearance in French history; and, though they were without result, for Richelieu was not to be diverted from his aim, the high opinion which the Cardinal then conceived of the abilities of the young Italian diplomat was the beginning of the latter’s fortune.
On January 30 Bassompierre left Lyons and resumed his journey to Switzerland. On February 8 he arrived at Fribourg, where he was received with great honour, cannon firing salutes and 2,000 armed burghers lining the streets. After entertaining the municipal authorities to a sumptuous banquet, he proceeded to Berne, to be received with similar distinction. On the following day he attended a meeting of the Council and harangued them. “Afterwards they came to dine with him and remained all day at table.”
On the 12th he arrived at Soleure, into which he made a “superb entry.” From Soleure he sent letters to all the Cantons convening a Diet for March 4, and during the interval he and Brulart de Léon, the permanent French Ambassador in Switzerland, had several conferences with regard to the Grisons and endeavoured to persuade the Canton of Zurich to send them reinforcements. The Zurich people, however, did not wish to commit themselves to open war with the Empire, though they promised to assist the Grisons secretly with munitions.