“It was impossible,” observe Claire-Clémence’s biographers, MM. Homberg and Jousselin, “to manifest more clearly, in the eyes of all, that the niece of Richelieu had been sought by the House of Condé, less for wealth, which was by no means out of the ordinary, than for the advantages of a connexion with him whom the courtiers called “the All-powerful.”[184]
The stipulation regarding Richelieu’s property greatly disgusted Monsieur le Prince, who was as greedy as he was ambitious; and, though he had not ventured to contest the matter with the Cardinal, he made, together with his son, a formal protest, in the presence of a notary, against the renunciation exacted by his Eminence.
After the signing of the contract, Richelieu gave a magnificent ballet at the Palais-Cardinal, entitled “La Prospérité des armes de France.” This ballet, we are told, delighted every one save the King, who appeared to be displeased at the sight of the Duc d’Enghien descending from heaven, surrounded by dazzling sunbeams, to make his entry.
On 11 February, the marriage was celebrated in the chapel of Palais-Cardinal, by the Archbishop of Paris. After the ceremony, the bridal pair and their relatives were entertained to a sumptuous banquet, and in the evening a play, followed by a supper, was given by Richelieu at the Palais-Cardinal. “Never had his Eminence been seen in a better temper,”[185] writes a witness of the marriage fêtes, on which the Cardinal is said to have expended upwards of a million livres. Supper over, the company adjourned to the Hôtel de Condé, to put the bridal pair to bed, according to custom.
CHAPTER XIV
Serious illness of the Duc d’Enghien—Tyranny exercised over him by Richelieu—An amusing anecdote—Death of the Cardinal—His will—Lawsuit between the Prince de Condé and the Duchesse d’Aiguillon—Enghien contemplates the dissolution of his marriage, neglects his wife, and devotes himself to Marthe du Vigean—He receives the command of the Army of Flanders, gains the brilliant victory of Rocroi, and takes Thionville—The Duchesse d’Enghien gives birth to a son—Indifference of the duke—He returns to Paris and endeavours to procure the dissolution of his marriage—But this project is frustrated by the interference of the Prince de Condé—Enghien is wounded at the battle of Nördlingen, and has a dangerous attack of fever—To the astonishment of his friends, he suddenly breaks off his tender relations with Mlle. du Vigean—Despair of the lady, who, in spite of the opposition of her family, enters the Carmelites of the Faubourg Saint-Jacques.
A few days after his marriage, the Duc d’Enghien fell dangerously ill, an event which was attributed by the Court to his despair at having been forced into an alliance so distasteful to him. Certainly, he behaved like a man who had little desire to live, and it was only with great difficulty that he could be persuaded to see the doctors whom Monsieur le Prince called in. At one time, his condition was so serious that hope was almost abandoned, but these apprehensions were fortunately unfounded, and in six weeks he was convalescent. His spirits, however, did not return with his strength, and he remained for some time in a state of profound melancholy, refusing to go into Society, or to receive his friends, and spending “the entire day and a part of the night” reading romances. At length, he succeeded in shaking off his lethargy, and on 13 May celebrated his return to health by giving a grand fête at Charonne to his sister and her fair friends, including, needless to say, Mlle. du Vigean.
The Cardinal, already irritated by the coldness with which Enghien had from the first treated his child-wife, in spite of the affection which she lavished upon him, was much displeased on learning of this entertainment, for, in his opinion, no society was more calculated to wean his nephew from the domestic hearth than that of these charming young ladies. He had another, and more serious cause for resentment against the young prince, in the fate which had befallen one Maigrin, a creature of his own, whom Condé, at his suggestion, had appointed comptroller of his son’s Household. Incensed by the surveillance which he suspected Maigrin of exercising over his actions, Enghien had inveighed against him in such violent terms before some of his confidential servants, that two of them, with the idea of pleasing their master, picked a quarrel with the unfortunate comptroller, and wounded him so severely that he died a few hours later.
The Cardinal, furious at the death of his protégé, wrote a very angry letter to the Prince de Condé, complaining bitterly of “the disorders and the want of dignity in M. d’Enghien’s Household,” and demanding that “his conduct should be aided and guided by a single mind.” The obsequious prince hastened to reply: “He is your creature: do with him what you will.” And the luckless Enghien found that he had escaped from the paternal control only to fall under the tyranny of Richelieu, who reorganized his Household, which he filled with persons devoted to his own interests, fixed the number of days which he was to spend in any one place, and regulated everything which concerned him down to the smallest details. No wonder that the young duke was glad when the time arrived for him to rejoin the army of Picardy, with which he took part in the sieges of Aire, La Bassée, and Bapaume!
Although Enghien’s manner towards his wife continued very cold, in other respects his conduct, during the remainder of the Cardinal’s life, gave his Eminence little cause for complaint. On one occasion only does he appear to have offended the great man, when, thanks to the diplomacy of Monsieur le Prince, he was enabled to make atonement. This was in the autumn of 1642, when, on his return from the campaign of Roussillon, he was so ill-advised as to pass by Lyons without visiting the Cardinal Alphonse de Richelieu, Archbishop of Lyons, and brother of the Minister. At the first interview which he had with the latter on his arrival in Paris, the Cardinal inquired after the health of his brother, and it became necessary to acknowledge that he had not been visited. The Cardinal made no remark, but, when the prince had departed, he gave full vent to his feelings, and vowed that he would make him regret the slight he had offered him. The Prince de Condé, informed of what had occurred, was terribly alarmed, and hastened to intercede for his son with the angry Minister, promising that he should make the fullest atonement; and when Enghien joined him at Dijon, he ordered him to return immediately to Lyons, and repair his fault. And so the delinquent found himself obliged to make a long journey in very bad weather, not to Lyons, but to Orange, whither the Cardinal Alphonse had gone, on purpose, it was said, to give the prince the trouble of going further in search of him.