Gaston d'Orléans was, for the moment, gained.[214]
The first few days of this royal reunion were entirely devoted to festivity, after which the minister endeavoured to induce the Prince to consent to the annulment of his marriage with the Princesse de Lorraine; but upon this point Gaston evinced a firmness which astonished all those who were able to appreciate the recklessness and instability of his general character, and, finding himself pressed beyond his power of endurance, he retired, accompanied by Puylaurens, to Blois, whence he wrote to remonstrate against the delay which had taken place in the fulfilment of the promises made to his favourite. Uneasy lest the restless spirit of the Prince should induce him once more to revolt if his claims remained disregarded, Richelieu caused him to be informed that M. de Puylaurens was awaited in Paris in order that his marriage might be concluded with the younger daughter of the Baron de Pontchâteau, on the same day that the Duc de la Valette was to espouse the elder; while the Comte de Guiche, son of the Comte de Grammont, was also to give his hand to Mademoiselle du Plessis-Chivray, another relative of the Cardinal-Minister. This intelligence caused the greatest satisfaction to Monsieur, who forthwith proceeded to the capital with Puylaurens; and on the 19th of November both the Prince and his favourite were magnificently entertained at Ruel, whence they subsequently departed for St. Germain, in order to sign the contract in the presence of the King.
On the 26th of the same month the triple ceremony of betrothal took place at the Louvre. A full and unreserved pardon was publicly declared in favour of all the adherents of Monsieur, and two days subsequently the several marriages were celebrated with great pomp at the Arsenal. The lordship of Aiguillon, which had been purchased from the Princesse Marie de Gonzaga for six hundred thousand livres, was erected into a duchy-peerage under the name of Puylaurens, upon whom it was conferred, and who took his seat in the Parliament on the 7th of December as Duc de Puylaurens; after which Gaston once more returned to Blois, in order to avoid the persevering persecutions of the minister on the subject of his marriage.
FOOTNOTES:
[204] Le Clerc, vol. ii. pp. 143, 144.
[205] Léon Bouthillier, Comte de Chavigny, the son of Claude Bouthillier, Superintendent of Finance, was in 1634 Secretary of State. Louis XIII, in his will, appointed him Minister of State, and Member of the Council of Regency, but he was some time afterwards dismissed from office, together with his father. Léon Bouthillier died in 1652.
[206] Le Clerc, vol. ii. pp. 159, 160.
[207] Siri, Mém. Rec. vol. vii. p. 761.
[208] Luc, Vicomte de Fabbroni, was a celebrated astrologer, who attached himself to the fortunes of Marie de Medicis, to whom he had, on several occasions, predicted the early death of Louis XIII, the accession of Gaston d'Orléans, and her own restoration to regal power.
[209] Le Clerc, vol. ii. pp. 158-163. Siri, Mém. Rec. vol. vii. pp. 763, 764. Le Vassor, vol. vii. p. 360.