Condé

“ Péron glanced up in amazement, and saw Condé and Cardinal de Richelieu with several others looking down at them. The boy’s face turned scarlet. A storm of applause burst forth at the prince’s approving words, and the victor found himself a hero, while the maître d’armes stood discomfited, fully aware that he had not only been defeated, but had displayed too vicious a temper before his patron. Condé enjoyed the whole situation.
“You are fairly whipped, Choin,” he said, laughing; “you are too excellent a teacher.” ”

“ The Prince de Condé, coming into the shop one day, saw him, noticed his strength and beauty, and offered to receive him into his household to be trained to the profession of arms. This opportunity was joyfully embraced by Jacques des Horloges, who had long been in despair of placing the child as he desired. Père Antoine had trained him well in reading, and he was a fair scribe, but he had had no one to teach him to wield a weapon or ride a horse, and the clockmaker desired to see him a soldier rather than a priest. ”

“ She knew, too, that if, on the one hand, Condé aspired, as a Prince of the Blood, to play a prominent part in affairs of State, and was ambitious to secure the title of Lieutenant-General of the Kingdom, he would be, as a man, eager to compensate himself for the ennui of his recent captivity by a round of pleasure and dissipation. ”

“ Surprised and hopelessly outnumbered, the French were routed with terrible loss. Condé’s brother, the gallant Comte d’Enghien, was among the slain, while the Constable and the Maréchal de Saint-André were taken prisoners. Condé himself, who was stationed with part of the light cavalry on the extreme right wing of the army, displayed the most admirable courage and presence of mind amid the general panic, and, keeping his men together, succeeded in cutting his way through the victorious Spaniards and reaching La Fère. ”

“ Once, on entering a theatre at Paris, after a longer retreat than usual in his native town, the actors stopped short: the great Condé, the prince of Conti, together with the whole audience, rose: the acclamation was general and long continued. Such flattering testimonials embarrassed a man modest by nature, and unused to make a show of himself ”

“ Once a man laid his arm on the window, and asked if Condé was within the carriage. She answered "No," and he retreated, the flambeaux gleaming on a weapon beneath his cloak. Through these interruptions, she did not reach the half-burned and smoking Hôtel de Ville till most of its inmates had left it; the few remaining she aided to conceal, and emerged again amid the lingering, yawning crowd, who cheered her with, "God bless Mademoiselle! all she does is well done." ”

“ On 30 April, 1587, the Princesse de Condé gave birth to “a daughter worthy of such a mother,” who received the name of Éléonore, in memory of the prince’s mother, and became in 1606 the wife of Philip William of Nassau, Prince of Orange.
Early in the new year hostilities were resumed, and Condé gained several successes in Poitou and Saintonge. In October, the King of Navarre and Condé marched from La Rochelle to the Loire to meet the latter’s younger brothers, the Marquis de Conti and the Comte de Soissons, who, although Catholics, had been persuaded to cast in their lot with their relatives. ”

“ Abandoned by those who should have lavished upon her the most tender care, the unhappy Claire-Clémence became the prey of greedy and unscrupulous attendants. The man Duval mentioned by Condé in one of his letters to Caillet was a footman of the princess, a person of some education and “de bonne conversation,” to whom the lonely woman had attached herself. She gave him expensive presents and promised him a pension; and Condé, warned of the influence which he was beginning to exercise over his wife, insisted on her dismissing him from her service. ”

“ Louis Henri de Bourbon-Condé, in fact, was neither the odious nor the incapable person whom certain historians have depicted. His courage was indisputable; if he was rapacious, he was also generous and open-handed; if he was a bad enemy, he was also a faithful friend; he possessed cultured tastes, and beneath his love of pleasure and his apparent indifference to public affairs he concealed qualities which only required to be stimulated into activity to make of him, if not a statesman, at least a formidable party-leader. ”

“ Condé, with his gay and pleasure-loving nature, could have had but little sympathy with the austere tenets of Calvinism, and it is probable that the mortifications he had experienced, the hope of uniting his fortunes with the chances of success which the Reformers were able to offer, and, above all, his hatred of the Guises, contributed far more than religious convictions to decide him to embrace their faith and their cause. ”

“ The negotiations for the marriage of Henri of Navarre had been preceded by the arrangement by Jeanne d’Albret of a very advantageous match for the young Prince de Condé. The wife selected for him was his cousin, Marie de Clèves, Marquise d’Isles, the youngest of the three daughters of François de Clèves, Duc de Nevers, and Marguerite de Bourbon. [92] Marie de Clèves was not only a great heiress, but an extremely beautiful girl, and Condé considered himself a very fortunate young man. ”

“ In accordance with these resolutions, a deputation selected from the most prominent Huguenot divines waited upon the backsliding prince at Valery and endeavoured to awaken him to a sense of the error of his ways. Condé received his reverend friends courteously enough, but declared that he “could not keep continent and could not take a wife, since it was difficult to find a person of his own rank belonging to the same religion, and impossible to find one of another religion.” ”

“ Ever since their formal reconciliation six years before, the relations between Condé and his wife had been very cool; indeed, it would appear that the tie which bound them had become merely a nominal one. Nevertheless, on learning of the arrest of her husband, the princess, who was at Valery, showed real magnanimity. Without a moment’s delay, she set out for Paris, sent the prince messages assuring him of her sympathy and devotion, and begged the Regent to allow her to share his captivity. Her request, however, was refused, and she received orders to leave Paris at once and return to Valery. ”

“ Condé was a bad subject for prison life, and the rigorous detention to which he had been subjected at the Château of Onzain had not been without its effect upon him; he was anxious to safeguard the interests of his co-religionists, but he was still more anxious to recover his liberty. “The little man to whom I have spoken,” wrote the Prince de la Roche-sur-Yon, who had had an interview with him some days before, to Catherine, “is very desirous to see the end of these troubles; he will accommodate himself to everything.” ”

“ Bourbons were ordered to accompany it. The unhappy Condé must have felt that his cup of humiliation was indeed filled to overflowing when he found himself marching against the stronghold of Protestantism—against those brave citizens amongst whom he counted so many personal friends—beneath the banner of the man who, after causing his father to be murdered, had robbed him of the affection of his wife. When the siege began, he courted danger with the eagerness of a man weary of life ”

“ A curious figure was this descendant of the Great Condé; "moitié plumet, moitié rabat," monk by profession and soldier by choice; "owing two million livres in Paris and changing his mistress every day"; now regulating the affairs of one of his abbeys, now scandalising the devout by some liaison with Opera girl or courtesan, anon distinguishing himself in battle; witty, affable, generous, brave, magnificent in his pleasures, and a lover and patron of literature ”

“ Before she could speak, that soul of fire uttered, for the only recorded time in his career, the word Despair: "Ma cousine, vous voyez un homme au désespoir,"—and burst into tears. But her news instantly revived him, and his army with him. "Mademoiselle is at the gate," the soldiers cried; and, with this certainty of a place of refuge, they could do all things. In this famous fight, five thousand men defended themselves against twelve thousand, for eight hours. "Did you see Condé himself?" ”

“ We read in a journal of the time:
“26 May, 1617. The Princesse de Condé went to salute the King, and to entreat him to permit her to share her husband’s captivity. The King accorded her permission, and to take with her one demoiselle. Upon which, her little dwarf, having begged him to consent to his not abandoning his mistress, his Majesty permitted him also to accompany her. The same afternoon, Madame la Princesse entered the Bastille, where she was received by Monsieur le Prince with every demonstration of affection, nor did he leave her in repose until she had said that she forgave him.” ”

“ True, monsieur, you may well boast of it as a noble deed, but not until the body has been consigned to the earth; for in these small places a great noise is often made over a small matter, and the spectacle of a gentleman carried across his horse in this way will make these bourgeois of La Châtre open their eyes. You have enemies, monsieur, and at the present moment Monseigneur de Condé is a very devout Catholic. ”

“ In 1800 Condé arrived in England, where he resided for several years. On the restoration of Louis XVIII. he returned to France. He died in Paris in 1818. He wrote Essai sur la vie du grand Condé (1798) .
Louis Henry Joseph, duke of Bourbon (1756–1830) , son of the last named, was the last prince of Condé. Several of the earlier events of his life, especially his marriage with the princess Louise of Orleans, and the duel that the comte d’Artois provoked by raising the veil of the princess at a masked ball, caused much scandal. At the Revolution he fought with the army of the emigrés in Liége. ”

“ Yet to my taste it savors of a still higher aristocracy to act as did the legitimist generals who reported themselves as simple soldiers in Condé's army, and who, notwithstanding their general's epaulettes, did not disdain to fight now and then on foot and in the first rank. Not one whit of true inner dignity is sacrificed by such a course. ”

“ Was Condé, whom the king had only four or five months ago recognized by solemn edict as his "dear cousin and faithful servant and subject," a friend or a foe? Had peace been concluded with the Hugue [Pg 259] nots only that they might anew be treated as rebels and enemies? What had become of the prescribed amnesty? ”

“ But the lesson he had received had been a severe one, and henceforth the King had no more loyal servant, his Ministers no stauncher supporter, than the first Prince of the Blood. His enemies have accused him, and with only too much reason, of servility towards those in power and of an excessive regard for his own interests; but, on the whole, the line of conduct he pursued seems to have been patriotic as well as prudent.
Two years after Condé’s release from Vincennes, on 8 September, 1621, his wife bore him a son, Louis, Duc d’Enghien, who was to confer so much lustre on the name of Condé ”

“ 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.” ”

“ It has a church dating from the middle of the 18th century. Trade is in coal and cattle. The industries include brewing, rope-making and boat-building, and there is a communal college. Condé (Condate) is of considerable antiquity, dating at least from the later Roman period. ”

“ A very cordial interview took place between them, in which his Eminence suggested to Condé a marriage between him and Mary Stuart. The cardinal had already approached his niece on the subject, excusing the inconsistency of a Prince of the Church recommending a heretic as a husband on the ground that the Huguenots were so determined to compass his ruin that the marriage was absolutely necessary for his political salvation. ”

“ After the assassination of Concini and the departure of the Queen-Mother for Blois, Condé’s principal adherents were restored to favour, but he himself still remained in the Bastille. [176] However, Louis XIII.’s favourite, the Duc de Luynes, sent his uncle, the Comte de Modène, to visit the prince and report upon his state of health. Condé begged him to convey to the King his hope that, if reasons of State required that he should remain a prisoner, his Majesty would at least consent to ameliorate his captivity, and, particularly, to permit his wife to join him. ”

“ The Duc de Bourbon, however, though he was not without ability, was incurably indolent, and, despite all the efforts of his teachers and the reprimands of Monsieur le Prince, his progress both at the Collège de Clermont and at Louis-le-Grand, to which he was transferred when he was fourteen, was most disappointing. It was evident that Condé had not taken into sufficient consideration the great difference in temperament between himself and his grandson, and that a system which had produced such splendid results in his own case was quite unsuited to this idle, pleasure-loving lad. ”