1620
Louis XIII creates numerous Knights of the Holy Ghost without reference to the wishes of his mother--Indignation of Marie de Medicis--Policy of De Luynes--Richelieu aspires to the cardinalate--A Court quarrel--The Comtesse de Soissons conspires to strengthen the party of the Queen-mother--Several of the great Princes proceed to Angers to urge Marie to take up arms--Alarm of the favourite--He seeks to propitiate the Duc de Guise--The double marriage--Caustic reply of the Duc de Guise--Royal alliances--An ex-Regent and a new-made Duke--The Queen-mother is threatened with hostilities should she refuse to return immediately to the capital--She remains inflexible--Condé advises the King to compel her obedience--De Luynes enters into a negotiation with Marie--An unskilful envoy--Louis XIII heads his army in Normandy--Alarm of the rebel Princes--They lay down their arms, and the King marches upon the Loire--The Queen-mother prepares to oppose him--She garrisons Angers--The Duc de Mayenne urges her to retire to Guienne--She refuses--Treachery of Richelieu--League between Richelieu and De Luynes--Marie de Medicis negotiates with the King--Louis declines her conditions--The defeat at the Fonts de Cé--Submission of the Queen-mother--A royal interview--Courtly duplicity--Marie retires to Chinon--The Ducs de Mayenne and d'Epernon lay down their arms--The Court assemble at Poitiers to meet the Queen-mother--Louis proceeds to Guienne, and Marie de Medicis to Fontainebleau--The King compels the resumption of the Romish faith in Béarn--The Court return to Paris.
[CHAPTER IV]
1621-24
Attempt to secure a cardinal's hat for Richelieu frustrated by De Luynes--Death of Philip III of Spain--De Luynes is created Connétable de France--Discontent of the great nobles--Disgust of the Maréchal de Lesdiguières--The Protestants of Béarn rise against their oppressors--The royal troops march against them--They are worsted, and despoiled of their fortified places--The King becomes jealous of his favourite--Le Roi Luynes--Domestic dissensions--The favourite is threatened with disgrace--Cruelty of Louis XIII--Death of De Luynes--Louis determines to exterminate the Protestants--A struggle for power--Prudence of Bassompierre--Condé encourages the design of the King--The old ministers are recalled--They join with the Queen-mother in her attempt to conclude a peace with the reformed party--Marie de Medicis solicits a share in the government--The King complies, but refuses to sanction the admission of Richelieu to the Council--The Duchesse de Luynes and Anne of Austria--Frustrated hopes--Condé aspires to the French throne--Louis XIII leaves the capital by stealth in order to join the army at Nantes--The Queen-mother prepares to follow him, but is overtaken by illness--Ruthless persecution of the Protestants--Siege of La Rochelle--Venality of the Protestant leaders--Indignation of the Catholic nobles--Resistance of the citizens of Montpellier--Military incapacity of Condé--The Duc de Rohan negotiates a peace, and Condé retires to Rome--Montpellier opens its gates to the King--Bad faith of Louis XIII--Triumphal entry of the King at Lyons--Marriage of the Marquis de la Valette and Mademoiselle de Verneuil--Richelieu is created a cardinal--Exultation of the Queen-mother--Death of the President Jeannin--Prospects of Richelieu--His duplicity--Misplaced confidence of Marie de Medicis--Louis XIII returns to Paris--Change in the Ministry--Anne of Austria and the Prince of Wales--The Queen-mother and her faction endeavour to accomplish the ruin of the Chancellor, and succeed--Richelieu is admitted to the Council--Indignation of Condé--Richelieu becomes all-powerful--His ingratitude to the Queen-mother--The Queen-mother is anxious to effect a matrimonial alliance with England--Richelieu seconds her views--The King of Spain applies for the hand of the Princesse Henriette for Don Carlos--His demand is negatived by the Cardinal-Minister--La Vieuville is dismissed from the Ministry--Duplicity of Louis XIII--Arrest of La Vieuville--Change of ministers--Petticoat intrigues--The Duc d'Anjou solicits the hand of Mademoiselle de Montpensier--The alliance is opposed by the Guises and forbidden by the King.
[CHAPTER V]
1625-28
Death of James I.--The Princesse Henriette is married by proxy to Charles I--The Duke of Buckingham arrives in France to conduct his young sovereign to her new country--An arrogant suitor--Departure of the English Queen--Indisposition of Marie de Medicis--Arrival of Henriette in London--Growing power of Richelieu--Suspicions of the Queen-mother--Influence of the Jesuit Bérulle over Marie de Medicis--Richelieu urges Monsieur to conclude his marriage with Mademoiselle de Montpensier--Character of Gaston--He refuses to accept the hand of the lady--Arrest of M. d'Ornano--Vengeance of Richelieu--Indignation of Monsieur--Alarm of the Queen-mother--Pusillanimity of Gaston--Arrest of the Vendôme Princes--Edicts issued against the great nobles--Sumptuary laws--Execution of the Comte de Bouteville--The reign of Richelieu--Policy of Marie and her minister--Distrust of the King--Conspiracy against the Cardinal--Richelieu threatens to retire from office--A diplomatic drama--Triumph of the Cardinal--Execution of Chalais--Heartlessness of Gaston--Monsieur consents to an alliance with Mademoiselle de Montpensier--A royal marriage--The victims of Richelieu--Marie de Medicis and the Cardinal endeavour to increase the dissension between Louis XIII and his Queen--Exile of the Duchesse de Joyeuse-Accusation against Anne of Austria--She becomes a state prisoner--Subtlety of Richelieu--Anticipated rupture with England--Embassy of Bassompierre--Death of the Duc de Lesdiguières--Favour of Saint-Simon--Pregnancy of the Duchesse d'Orléans--Dissolute conduct of Monsieur--Birth of Mademoiselle--Death of Madame--Marie de Medicis seeks to effect a marriage between Monsieur and a Florentine Princess--Buckingham lands in France, but is repulsed--Illness of Louis XIII--Disgust of the Duc d'Orléans--Louis wearies of the camp--He is incensed against the Cardinal--The King returns to Paris--Monsieur affects a passion for the Princesse Marie de Gonzaga, which alarms the sovereign--His distrust of the Queen-mother--Marie de Medicis withdraws her confidence from the Cardinal--Mother and son--Louis returns to La Rochelle--The city capitulates--Triumphal entry of Louis XIII into Paris--Exhortation of the Papal Nuncio.