Condé certainly had every claim upon the gratitude of the Spanish Court, for in the service of the enemies of his country he displayed the most rare qualities. As a general, he compelled the admiration of all by his courage, energy, and foresight. His masterly retreat on Mons, after the raising of the siege of Arras, whereby he saved the routed Spaniards from complete destruction, must rank as one of his finest feats of arms, and scarcely less brilliant were his relief of Cambrai and the manner in which he forced Turenne’s lines before Valenciennes. Badly seconded by the Spanish Government, who furnished him neither with subsidies nor capable generals, he was obliged to give his personal attention to everything. He superintended the recruiting of his armies, their provisioning, their encampments, descended even to the most trifling details, and led the life of the soldier, sharing his privations that he might communicate to him his energy.
As the result of the visit paid by Condé to Malines at the beginning of 1656, in the following spring Madame la Princesse found herself again in an interesting condition. The approach of this event added to the poor woman’s anxieties, for she could not but feel many misgivings as to the fate reserved for a child to be born in exile, the offspring of a rebel prince, who had been deprived, by a decree of the Parlement, even of the name of Bourbon. She was, besides, much disquieted by the prospect of the privations which it might be required to face at Malines, in that inn where she was reduced to live so miserably. She accordingly took counsel with the faithful Lenet, and, on his advice, decided to petition Louis XIV. and Mazarin for permission to return to France, and, at the same time, to appeal to the Parlement of Paris and her relatives to make intercession on her behalf. But the touching letters which she addressed to the King and the Minister were without result; she was merely informed that circumstances did not lend themselves to her return to France, and her only recource was to have a protest drawn up by Flemish lawyers, “in order that her accouchement out of France might not be laid to her charge, nor prejudice the child which would be born of her pregnancy.”
In November, 1656, the Princesse de Condé gave birth, contrary to all her hopes, to a daughter, who was baptized Louise. While this little girl was still only a few months old, Jeanne Baptiste de Bourbon, Abbess of Fontevrault, wrote to Condé, offering her the succession to her abbey. The prince thanked the abbess for her good intentions, but suggested that it would be preferable to wait for better times, and that it was, besides, rather early to make his daughter a nun. The little princess did not assume the cross and mitre, since she died before she was three years old.
The campaign of 1657, which opened with Condé’s brilliant relief of Cambrai, closed with the loss of Mardyke and other places, for the incurable indolence of the Spanish generals hampered the prince at every turn. England had now formed an alliance with France, and, in the following year, the Spaniards, having, against the advice of Condé, marched against the allies, who were besieging Dunkerque, sustained a crushing defeat in the battle of the Dunes. This disaster, followed by the capitulation of Dunkerque and the invasion of Flanders by Turenne, decided Philip IV. to make peace; and, on 24 November, 1657, the Treaty of the Pyrenees brought the long war to a close.
It closed also the exile and disgrace of Condé, who, thanks to the firmness of Spain, was not only permitted to return to France, but re-established in possession of all his property, honours and dignities, with the exception of the governments of Guienne and Berry, and the charge of Grand Master of the King’s Household, which he was to surrender to the Duc d’Enghien, retaining, however, the reversion of the post. In return for Philip IV.’s cession of Jülich to the Duke of Neuburg and of the fortress of Avesnes to France, Louis XIV. conferred upon Condé the government of Burgundy and Bresse, of the château of Dijon, and of Saint-Jean-de-Losne; and, as compensation for the duchy of Albret, which he had given to the Duc de Bouillon, he invested him with that of the Bourbonnais. This last arrangement restored to this branch of the Royal House of France the title of Duc de Bourbon, by which three of the later Princes de Condé preferred to be known.
In return, nothing was demanded of the rebellious prince, except that he should disband his forces within two months, and declare his intention “to make reparation for the past by an entire obedience to all the commands of his Sovereign” in a letter which he was to write to his Majesty. Early in December, this missive reached Toulouse, where the Court then was, and, on the 29th of the same month, Condé, accompanied by the Duc d’Enghien, quitted Brussels and set out for France. Madame la Princesse followed, after a short interval, with the little Mlle. de Bourbon. She, at least, was able to return to her native land without bitterness and without remorse, since she had only acted in accordance with what she believed to be her duty to her husband.
CHAPTER XVII
Arrival of Condé at the Court—His reception—He returns to Paris—His ingratitude towards his wife—Dignified behaviour of Madame la Princesse—Affectionate relations between Condé and his son—Indifference of the young prince towards his mother—Marriage of the Duc d’Enghien and Anne of Bavaria—The affair of Poland—Condé’s conquest of Franche-Comté—The mind of the Princesse de Condé becomes affected—The footman Duval—Mysterious affair at the Hôtel de Condé: the princess is wounded in a brawl between Duval and the Comte de Bussy-Rabutin—Singular attitude of Monsieur le Prince—Trial of Duval—Calumnies against the Princesse de Condé: letter of Madame de Sevigné—The princess is exiled to the Château of Châteauroux, in Berry—Her departure: a touching scene—Her captivity—Her hallucinations—Visit of Père Tixier.
On 4 January, 1660, Condé arrived at Coulommiers, whither the Duc and Duchesse de Longueville had come to welcome him. After remaining there a week, the princess and her little daughter, who had joined her the day after her arrival, set out for Trie; the Duc d’Enghien was sent to Augerville, to the house of the Président Perrault, a partisan of Monsieur le Prince, who had himself recently returned from exile; while Condé, accompanied by his brother-in-law, continued his journey to Aix, in Provence, where the Court then was, to salute the King. At Lambesc, they were met by the Prince de Conti, who, after the surrender of Bordeaux, had made his peace with the Court and espoused one of Mazarin’s nieces, the beautiful and virtuous Anne Marie Martinozzi. Conti must have felt a little uneasy as to the reception he was likely to meet with from the brother whose cause he had abandoned. However, Condé greeted him affectionately, and, though the intimacy which had once existed between them was never renewed, they remained on friendly terms.
On 27 January, Monsieur le Prince reached Aix and went at once to visit Mazarin, to whom, since the Peace of the Pyrenees, he had written several “rather civil” letters. The interview between the two old enemies, though necessarily somewhat constrained, passed off satisfactorily enough. Condé recognized that the Cardinal was now far too firmly seated in the saddle ever to be dislodged, while Mazarin felt that he could afford to be magnanimous. At its conclusion the prince was “introduced into the Queen’s chamber, where he presented his respects to their Majesties.”[206] The memoirs of the time,—even those of la Grande Mademoiselle, who does not conceal her chagrin at not having been able to learn anything—are silent regarding this interview, which lasted more than an hour. No one seems to know what passed, but all are agreed that, when it was over, the Prince de Condé appeared to be as much at his ease at Court as if he had never left it.