The King, accompanied by the two Queens and the whole Court, then proceeded through Burgundy to Lyons, where on May 6 Bassompierre joined him, and was not a little astonished to find his Majesty amongst the ladies, “gallant and amorous, which was contrary to his custom.” The explanation is that Louis had recently fallen in love with Mlle. de Hautefort, one of the Queen’s maids-of-honour. This affection was of a very innocent kind, but it was skilfully exploited by the enemies of Richelieu, and, in time to come, was to occasion the Cardinal considerable embarrassment.
On the 8th the King left for Grenoble to confer with the Cardinal, who, having confided the command of his army to La Force and Schomberg, had come thither for that purpose. Although after the loss of Pinerolo Charles Emmanuel had hastened to make overtures for peace, Richelieu had little belief in his sincerity, and Louis XIII agreed with him on the necessity of retaining so all-important an acquisition as Pinerolo. The Queen-Mother and her creatures were, however, worrying the King incessantly to spare the Duke of Savoy, and Louis, who desired peace about him, and had vainly endeavoured to make his mother listen to reason, sent the Cardinal to Lyons to represent to Marie more fully the condition of affairs. This he did so ably that the Queen-Mother, though sorely against her will, was obliged to admit the necessity of continuing the war.
On the 14th the King, accompanied by Bassompierre, Créquy, and Châtillon, left Grenoble with the army which had assembled there and, passing through the Bresse, entered Savoy. The three marshals were to command the army in turn, and the first period of command fell to Bassompierre, who made good use of his opportunities. He took the town and citadel of Chambéry; compelled Rumilly to surrender; and, pushing on with the advance-guard over the difficult roads, turned the flank of the Prince of Carignano, who commanded the main Piedmontese army, and compelled him to beat a precipitate retreat from his strong position at Conflans; and then, crossing the Col de la Louaz, the Col de Nave, the Grand-Cœur and the Petit-Cœur, had occupied Moutiers and the Pas du Ciel, when he received a despatch from the King instructing him to resign his command to the Maréchal de Châtillon, whose turn it was to lead the army.
“This offended me extremely,” says the marshal, “since I did not think that, as the same troops would continue to form the advance-guard, my person alone ought to be dethroned, and that having started the hare, another should come to profit by my labours.”
However, of course, he had no alternative but to hand over the command to his colleague. But when, on June 4, the King and the Cardinal arrived at Moustier, he “complained of the outrage that had been done him.” However, he got no satisfaction from them, as they decided that the arrangement that had been made at the outset of the campaign must be adhered to.
By the third week in June all Savoy had been conquered, with the exception of the citadel of Montmélian, which was being closely blockaded, and Louis XIII and Richelieu returned to Grenoble, whither Bassompierre followed them. On July 10 a division of the army of Piedmont under Montmorency and d’Effiat defeated the forces of Charles Emmanuel at Avigliana and occupied Saluzzo, which the Duke of Savoy had annexed during the troubles of the League and retained at the cost of much sacrifice of territory in 1601.
These rapid successes redoubled the ill humour of Marie de’ Medici, whose rancour against Richelieu was industriously stimulated by the Keeper of the Seals, Michel de Marillac, who, on the death of the Cardinal de Bérulle in October, 1629, had succeeded him as the leader of the High Catholic and Spanish party and the chief confidant of the Queen-Mother. The King, anxious to prevent any new trouble in the Royal Family, begged his mother to come to Grenoble, to give the Cardinal and himself the benefit of her counsels. But Marie excused herself, and she and Michel de Marillac did everything possible to dissuade the King from returning to the army, on the ground that his health would be endangered by contagious maladies which had broken out there. The Spaniards and Imperialists, encouraged by the knowledge of the intrigues which were proceeding at the Court of France, pressed the sieges of Mantua and Casale, and, though the latter place, ably defended by Toiras, held out bravely, on July 18 the Imperialists succeeded in taking Mantua by assault.
In the last week in July Louis XIII, who, since the beginning of the month, had been very unwell, was obliged, on account of his health, to return to Lyons, where Bassompierre obtained leave to go to Paris “to set his affairs in order.”
“I arrived in Paris,” he writes, “on the 21st day of August, where I found M. d’Épernon. Monsieur, brother of the King, came there on the morrow, and a few days later M. le Comte, M. de Longueville, and M. de Guise arrived. We thought only of passing our time pleasantly. I amused myself in building Chaillot.”
Now, of course, it may have been merely a coincidence that the distinguished persons above-mentioned, all of whom were hostile to Richelieu, should have arrived in Paris almost at the same time as Bassompierre. But any way, it was an unfortunate one for the marshal.