The Life of Marie de Medicis, Vol. 1 (of 3) by Julia Pardoe

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[Illustration: MARIE DE MEDICIS, SECOND QUEEN OF HENRY IV OF FRANCE.]

THE LIFE

OF

MARIE DE MEDICIS

Queen of France

CONSORT OF HENRI IV, AND REGENT OF THE
KINGDOM UNDER LOUIS XIII

BY

JULIA PARDOE

AUTHOR OF

'LOUIS XIV AND THE COURT OF FRANCE IN THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY,'
'THE COURT AND REIGN OF FRANCIS THE FIRST,' ETC.

IN THREE VOLUMES
VOL. I

1890

TO

MR. AND MRS. CHARLES BECKET

(OF HEVER COURT, KENT)

These Volumes

ARE VERY AFFECTIONATELY INSCRIBED

BY

THE AUTHOR

PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION

All the existing records of European royalty do not, probably, comprise
the annals of a life of greater vicissitude than that which has been
chosen as the subject of the present work. We find numerous examples in
history of Queens who have suffered exile, imprisonment, and death; but
we believe that the unfortunate Marie de Medicis is the only
authenticated instance of a total abandonment on the part alike of her
family and friends, which terminated almost in starvation. Certain it is
that after having occupied the throne of France, presided over its
Councils, and given birth to the ancestor of a long line of Princes, she
was ultimately indebted to the sympathy and attachment of a foreign
artist, of whom she had once been the zealous patron, for a roof under
which to terminate her miserable existence! The whole life of this
ill-fated Queen is, indeed, full of startling contrasts from which the
mind shrinks back appalled; and her entire career is so freighted with
alternate grandeur and privation that it is difficult to reconcile the
possibility of their having fallen to the share of the same individual;
and this too in an age when France, above all other nations, boasted of
its chivalry, and when some of the greatest names that have ever figured
in its annals gave grace and glory to its history.

The times were, moreover, as remarkable as the men by whom they were
illustrated; for despite the civil and foreign wars by which they were
so unhappily distinguished, the arts flourished, and the spread of
political liberty became apparent; although it is equally certain that
they were at the same time fatal alike to the aristocracy and to the
magistrature; and that they rapidly paved the way to the absolutism of
Louis XIV, to the shameless saturnalia of the Regency, and to the
dishonouring and degrading excesses of Louis XV, who may justly be said
to have prepared by his licentiousness the scaffold of his successor.

During several centuries the French monarchs had indulged in a blind
egotism, which rendered them unable to appreciate the effects of their
own errors upon their subjects. L'ETAT C'EST MOI had unfortunately been
practically their ruling principle long ere Louis XIV ventured to put it
into words. To them the Court was the universe, the aristocracy the
nation, and the Church the corner-stone of the proud altar upon which
they had enthroned themselves, and beyond which they cared not either to
look or listen. A fatal mistake fatally expiated! Yet, as we have
already remarked, the system, dangerous and hollow as it was, endured
for centuries--endured until crime was heaped on crime, and the fearful
holocaust towered towards Heaven as if to appeal for vengeance. And that
vengeance came! It had been long delayed; so long indeed that when the
brilliant courtiers of Versailles were told of disaffection among the
masses, and warned to conciliate ere it was too late the goodwill of
their inferiors, they listened with contemptuous carelessness to the
tardy caution, and scorned to place themselves in competition with those
untitled classes whom they had long ceased to regard as their
fellow-men. But the voice of the people is like the stroke of the hammer
upon the anvil; it not only makes itself heard, but, however great may
be the original resistance, finishes by fashioning the metal upon which
it falls after its own will.

During the reign of Louis XIII this great and fatal truth had not yet
been impressed upon the French nation, for the popular voice was stifled
beneath the ukase of despotism; and even the _tiers-etat_--important as
the loyalty of that portion of a kingdom must ever be to its
rulers--were treated with disdain and contumely; but beneath all the
workings of his government (or rather the government of his minister,
for the son of Marie de Medicis was a monarch only in name), may be
traced the undercurrent of popular indignation and discontent, which,
gradually swelling and rising during the two succeeding reigns, finally
overthrew with its giant waves the last frail barrier which still
upreared itself before a time-honoured throne.

The incapacity of the King, the venality of the Princes, the arrogance
of the hierarchy, the insubordination of the nobles, the licentiousness
of the Court, the despotism of the Government; all the errors and all
the vices of their rulers, were jealously noted and bitterly registered
by an oppressed and indignant people; but it required time to shake off
a yoke which had been so long borne that it had eaten into the flesh;
nor, moreover, were the minds of the masses in that age sufficiently
awakened to a sense of their own collective power to enable them, as
they did in the following century, to measure their strength with those
upon whom they had been so long accustomed to look with fear and awe.

There cannot, moreover, exist the slightest doubt that the wantonness
with which Richelieu, in furtherance of his own private interests,
poured out so freely on the scaffold some of the proudest blood of
France, did much towards destroying that prestige which had hitherto
environed the high nobility. When Biron perished upon the block,
although his death was decreed by the sovereign, and that sovereign,
moreover, was their own idolized Henri IV, the people marvelled and even
murmured; but in after-years they learned through the teaching of the
Cardinal that nobles were merely men; while the exile of the persecuted
Marie de Medicis, and the privations to which she was exposed through
his agency, taught them that even royalty itself was not invulnerable to
the malice or vengeance of its opponents; and unhappily for those by
whom Richelieu was succeeded in power, the lesson brought forth its
fruits in due season.

Thus much premised, I shall confine myself to a brief explanation of the
manner in which I have endeavoured to perform my self-imposed task. For
one wilful, but as I trust excusable, inaccuracy, I throw myself on the
indulgence of my critics. Finding my pages already overloaded with
names, and that they must consequently induce a considerable strain upon
the memory of such readers as might not chance to be intimately
acquainted with the domestic history of the period under consideration,
I have, from the commencement of the work, designated the Duc de Sully
by the title which he ultimately attained, and by which he is
universally known, rather than confuse the mind of my readers by
allusions to M. de Bethune, M. de Rosny, and finally M. de Sully, when
each and all merely signified the same individual; and I feel persuaded
that this arrangement will be generally regarded as a judicious one,
inasmuch as it tends to lessen a difficulty already sufficiently great;
a fact which will be at once apparent on reference to the biographical
table at the head of each volume.

On the other hand I have, contrary to my previous system, but in justice
to myself, carefully, and even perhaps somewhat elaborately, multiplied
the footnotes, in order to give with precision the several authorities
whence I deduced my facts; and I must be excused should this caution
appear uselessly tedious or pedantic to the general reader, as I am
anxious on this occasion to escape the accusation which was once brought
against me when it was equally undeserved, of having "quoted at
secondhand," and even drawn my materials from "historical romances of
the time." It is, of course, easy to make assertions of this nature at
random; but when a writer feels that he or she has conscientiously
performed a duty voluntarily undertaken, it is painful to be misjudged;
especially when, as in the present instance, nearly three years have
been devoted to the work.

For the facsimile letters by which my volumes are enriched I am indebted
to the kindness of M. de la Plane, a member of the Institut Royal de
France, of whose extensive and valuable cabinet of ancient records they
now form a part; and by whom their publication was obligingly
authorized. The authenticity of these letters admits of no doubt, as it
is known that they originally formed a portion of the rich collection of
autographs in the possession of the Marechal de Bassompierre, to whom
they were severally addressed; and that at his death they were
transferred to the library of the Fathers of the Oratory at St. Magloire
in Paris; whence (it is believed at the Revolution) they fell into the
hands of a member of that celebrated society, Le Pere de Mevolhon,
formerly Canon and Vicar-General of the diocese of St. Omer, by whom
they were presented to M. de la Plane.

At the time when he so kindly entrusted to me the letters above named,
the same obliging friend also confided to my care, with full permission
to make whatever use of it I should see fit, an unpublished MS.
consisting of nearly twelve thousand pages closely written, and divided
into twenty-four volumes small quarto, all undeniably the work of one
hand. This elaborate MS. was entitled "Memoirs of M. le Commandeur de
Rambure, Captain of the regiment of French Guards, Gentleman of the
Bedchamber under the Kings Henri IV, Louis XIII, and Louis XIV surnamed
the Great, with all the most memorable events which took place during
the reigns of those three Majesties, from the year 1594 to that
of 1660."

The author of this voluminous MS., who, at the age of eighty-one,
inscribes his work to his _uncle_, Monseigneur de Rambure, Bishop of
Vannes, and who professes to have ventured thus tardily upon his
Herculean undertaking at the request, and for the instruction, of his
nephew the Marquis de Rambure, lays strict injunctions upon his
successors to keep the record of his life to themselves; alleging as his
reason a dread of injuring by his revelations the interests of the young
courtier, who had succeeded to his own post of Gentleman of the
Bedchamber; "and that," as he proceeds to say, "to the greatest King in
the world, by whom he has the honour to be loved and esteemed; therefore
I pray you that this writing may never be printed, in order not to make
him enemies, who are too ready to come without being sought by our
imprudence; and because I have only composed these Memoirs for myself
and my kindred." [1]

The author states that the work is not in his own handwriting, but in
that of his secretary, to whom he dictated during eleven years four
hours each day, two in the morning, and two in the afternoon--and that
he commenced his formidable task in the year 1664, when he was living in
retirement in his Commanderie of St. Eugene in Limousin; and, despite
his advanced age, "in possession of all his faculties as perfectly as
when he had only reached his twenty-fifth year."

It is but recently that the present proprietor of the Memoirs, rightly
judging that the time has elapsed in which the disclosures of the
chronicler in question could conduce to the injury of any one connected
with him, has consented to permit of their perusal; and that only by a
few literary friends, all of whom have been astonished by their
extraordinary variety of information, marvellous detail, and intimate
acquaintance, not only with the principal events of the seventeenth
century (the writer having lived to the patriarchal age of ninety-six
years), but also with the leading actors in each of them.

In conclusion, I may say that these volumes are, through the kindness of
MM. d'Inguimbert and de la Plane, enriched by numerous curious extracts
from these unpublished Memoirs, no part of which has previously
appeared in print.

LONDON, _May_ 1852.

FOOTNOTES:

[1] This curious manuscript is at present the property of the Comte
d'Inguimbert d'Avignon; who, having lost his father at an early age, is
not aware of the precise manner in which it fell into the possession of
his family. Thus much, however, is certain, that it has for a
considerable length of time been religiously preserved by his ancestors;
and that the Countess his mother (sister of the last Comte de Bruges,
aide-de-camp to Charles X), who died a few years ago at an advanced age,
had never ventured, in obedience to the injunction above mentioned, to
entrust it to any one.--J.P.

CONTENTS

BOOK I

MARIE DE MEDICIS AS QUEEN

CHAPTER I

1572-99

Marriages of Henri IV--Marguerite de Valois--Her character--Her marriage
with the King of Navarre--Massacre of Saint Bartholomew--Henri, Duc
d'Anjou, elected sovereign of Poland--Death of Charles IX--Accession of
Henri III--Conspiracy of the Duc d'Alencon--Revealed by
Marguerite--Henry of Navarre escapes from the French Court--Henry of
Navarre protests against his enforced oath--Marguerite is imprisoned by
her brother--The Duc d'Alencon returns to his allegiance--Marguerite
joins her husband in Bearn--Domestic discord--Marriage-portion of
Marguerite--Court of Navarre--Dupin insults the Queen of
Navarre--Catherine de Medicis induces Marguerite to return to
France--The Duc d'Alencon again revolts--Marguerite arrests a royal
courier--She is banished with ignominy from the French Court--She is
deprived of her attendants--Henry of Navarre refuses to receive her in
the palace--Marguerite returns to Agen--Her licentiousness--Agen is
stormed and taken by the Marechal de Matignon--Marguerite escapes to the
fortress of Carlat--The inhabitants of the town resolve to deliver her
up to the French King--She is made prisoner by the Marquis de Canillac,
and conveyed to Usson--She seduces the governor of the fortress--Death
of the Duc d'Alencon--Poverty of Marguerite--Accession of Henri IV--He
embraces the Catholic faith--His dissipated habits--The Duc de Bouillon
heads the Huguenot party--Henri IV proceeds to Brittany, and threatens
M. de Bouillon--Festivities at Rennes--Henri IV becomes melancholy--He
resolves to divorce Marguerite, and take a second wife--European
princesses--Henry desires to marry la belle Gabrielle--Sully
expostulates--Sully proposes a divorce to Marguerite--The Duchesse de
Beaufort intrigues to prevent the marriage of the King with Marie de
Medicis--She bribes Sillery--Diplomacy of Sillery--Gabrielle aspires to
the throne of France--Her death--Marguerite consents to a divorce--The
Pope declares the nullity of her marriage--Grief of the King at the
death of Gabrielle--Royal pleasures--A new intrigue--Mademoiselle
d'Entragues--Her tact--Her character--A love-messenger--Value of a royal
favourite--Costly indulgences--A practical rebuke--Diplomacy of
Mademoiselle d'Entragues--The written promise--Mademoiselle d'Entragues
is created Marquise de Verneuil.

CHAPTER II

1599-1601

Sully resolves to hasten the King's marriage--Ambassadors are sent to
Florence to demand the hand of Marie de Medicis--The marriage articles
are signed--Indignation of Madame de Verneuil--Revenge of her brother,
the Comte d'Auvergne--The Duke of Savoy visits Paris--His reception--His
profusion--His mission fails--Court poets--Marie de Medicis is married
to the French King by procuration at Florence--Hostile demonstrations of
the Duke of Savoy--Infatuation of the King for the favourite--Her
pretensions--A well-timed tempest--Diplomacy of Madame de Verneuil--Her
reception at Lyons--War in Savoy--Marie de Medicis lands at
Marseilles--Madame de Verneuil returns to Paris--The Duc de Bellegarde
is proxy for the King at Florence--He escorts the new Queen to
France--Portrait of Marie de Medicis--Her state-galley--Her voyage--Her
reception--Henry reaches Lyons--The royal interview--Public
rejoicings--The royal marriage--Henry returns to Paris--The Queen's
jealousy is awakened--Profligate habits of the King--Marie's Italian
attendants embitter her mind against her husband--Marie reaches
Paris--She holds a court--Presentation of Madame de Verneuil to the
Queen--Indignation of Marie--Disgrace of the Duchesse de
Nemours--Self-possession of Madame de Verneuil--Marie takes possession
of the Louvre--She adopts the French costume--Splendour of the
Court--Festival given by Sully--A practical joke--Court
festivities--Excessive gambling--Royal play debts--The Queen's
favourite--A petticoat intrigue--Leonora Galigai appointed Mistress of
the Robes--Reconciliation between the Queen and Madame de Verneuil--The
King gives the Marquise a suite of apartments in the Louvre--Her rivalry
of the Queen--Indignation of Marie--Domestic dissensions--The Queen and
the favourite are again at war--Madame de Verneuil effects the marriage
of Concini and Leonora--Gratitude of the Queen--Birth of the
Dauphin--Joy of the King--Public rejoicings--Birth of Anne of
Austria--Superstitions of the period--Belief in astrology--A royal
anecdote--Horoscope of the Dauphin--The sovereign and the surgeon--Birth
of Gaston Henri, son of Madame de Verneuil--Public entry of the Dauphin
into Paris--Exultation of Marie de Medicis.

CHAPTER III

1602

Court festivities--The Queen's ballet--A gallant prelate--A poetical
almoner--Insolence of the royal favourite--Unhappiness of the
Queen--Weakness of Henry--Intrigue of Madame de Villars--The King
quarrels with the favourite--They are reconciled--Madame de Villars is
exiled, and the Prince de Joinville sent to join the army in
Hungary--Mortification of the Queen--Her want of judgment--New
dissension in the royal menage--Sully endeavours to restore
peace--Mademoiselle de Sourdis--The Court removes to Blois--Royal
rupture--A bewildered minister--Marie and her foster-sister--Conspiracy
of the Ducs de Bouillon and de Biron--Parallel between the two
nobles--The Comte d'Auvergne--Ingratitude of Biron--He is betrayed--His
arrogance--He is summoned to the capital to justify himself--He refuses
to obey the royal summons--Henry sends a messenger to command his
presence at Court--Precautionary measures of Sully--The President
Jeannin prevails over the obstinacy of Biron--Double treachery of La
Fin--The King endeavours to induce Biron to confess his crime--Arrest of
the Duc de Biron and the Comte d'Auvergne--The royal soiree--A timely
caution--Biron is made prisoner by Vitry, and the Comte d'Auvergne by
Praslin--They are conveyed separately to the Bastille--Exultation of the
citizens--Firmness of the King--Violence of Biron--Tardy
repentance--Trial of Biron--A scene in the Bastille--Condemnation of the
Duke--He is beheaded--The subordinate conspirators are pardoned--The Duc
de Bouillon retires to Turenne--Refuses to appear at Court--Execution of
the Baron de Fontenelles--A salutary lesson--The Comte d'Auvergne is
restored to liberty--Revolt of the Prince de Joinville--He is treated
with contempt by the King--He is imprisoned by the Duc de Guise--Removal
of the Court to Fontainbleau--Legitimation of the son of Madame de
Verneuil--Unhappiness of the Queen--She is consoled by Sully--Birth of
the Princesse Elisabeth de France--Disappointment of the
Queen--Soeur Ange.

CHAPTER IV

1603-4

Court festivities--Madame de Verneuil is lodged in the palace--She gives
birth to a daughter--Royal quarrels--Mademoiselle de Guise--Italian
actors--Revolt at Metz--Henry proceeds thither and suppresses the
rebellion--Discontent of the Duc d'Epernon--The Duchesse de Bar and the
Duc de Lorraine arrive in France--Illness of Queen Elizabeth of
England--Her death--Indisposition of the French King--Sully at
Fontainebleau--Confidence of Henri IV in his wife--His recovery--Renewed
passion of Henry for Madame de Verneuil--Anger of the Queen--Quarrel of
the Comte de Soissons and the Duc de Sully--The edict--Treachery of
Madame de Verneuil--Insolence of the Comte de Soissons--A royal
rebuke--Alarm of Madame de Verneuil--Hopes of the Queen--Jealousy of the
Marquise--The dinner at Rosny--The King pacifies the province of Lower
Normandy--The Comte de Soissons prepares to leave the kingdom--Is
dissuaded by the King--Official apology of Sully--Reception of
Alexandre-Monsieur into the Order of the Knights of Malta--Death of the
Duchesse de Bar--Grief of the King--The Papal Nuncio--Treachery near the
throne--A revelation--The Duc de Villeroy--A stormy audience--Escape of
L'Hote--His pursuit--His death--Ignominious treatment of his
body--Madame de Verneuil asserts her claim to the hand of the King--The
Comte d'Auvergne retires from the Court--Madame de Verneuil requests
permission to quit France--Reply of the King--Indignation of Marie--The
King resolves to obtain the written promise of marriage--Insolence
of the favourite--Weakness of Henry--He asks the advice of
Sully--Parallel between a wife and a mistress--A lame apology--The two
Henrys--Reconciliation between the King and the favourite--Remonstrances
of Sully--A delicate dilemma--Extravagance of the Queen--The "Pot de
Vin"--The royal letter--Evil influences--Henry endeavours to effect a
reconciliation with the Queen--Difficult diplomacy--A temporary
calm--Renewed differences--A minister at fault--Mademoiselle de la
Bourdaisiere--Mademoiselle de Bueil--Jealousy of Madame de
Verneuil--Conspiracy of the Comte d'Auvergne--Intemperance of the
Queen--Timely interference--Confidence accorded by the Queen to Sully--A
dangerous suggestion--Sully reconciles the royal couple--Madame de
Verneuil is exiled from the Court--She joins the conspiracy of her
brother--The forged contract--Apology of the Comte d'Entragues--Promises
of Philip of Spain to the conspirators--Duplicity of the Comte
d'Auvergne--He is pardoned by the King--His treachery suspected by M. de
Lomenie--D'Auvergne escapes to his government--Is made prisoner and
conveyed to the Bastille--His self-confidence--A devoted wife--The
requirements of a prisoner--Hidden documents--The treaty with Spain--The
Comtesse d'Entragues--Haughty demeanour of Madame de Verneuil--The
mistress and the minister--Mortification of Sully--Marriage of
Mademoiselle de Bueil--Henry embellishes the city of Paris and
undertakes other great national works.

CHAPTER V

1605

Trial of the conspirators--Pusillanimity of the Comte
d'Auvergne--Arrogant attitude assumed by Madame de Verneuil--She refuses
to offer any defence--Defence of the Comte d'Entragues--The two nobles
are condemned to death--Madame de Verneuil is sentenced to imprisonment
for life in a convent--A mother's intercession--The King commutes the
sentence of death passed on the two nobles to exile from the Court and
imprisonment for life--Expostulations of the Privy Council--Madame de
Verneuil is permitted to retire to her estate--Disappointment of the
Queen--Marriage of the Duc de Rohan--Singular ceremony--A tilt at the
Louvre--Bassompierre is dangerously wounded--His convalescence--Death of
Clement VIII--Election of Leo XI--His sudden death--Election of Paul
V--The Comte d'Entragues is authorized to return to Marcoussis--Madame
de Verneuil is pardoned and recalled--Marriage of the Prince de
Conti--Mademoiselle de Guise--Marriage of the Prince of Orange--The
ex-Queen Marguerite--She arrives in Paris--Gratitude of the King--Her
reception--Murder at the Hotel de Sens--Execution of the
criminal--Marguerite removes to the Faubourg St. Germain--The King
condoles with her on the loss of her favourite--Her dissolute
career--Her able policy--Death of M. de la Riviere--Execution of M. de
Merargues--Attempt to assassinate Henri IV--Magnanimity of the
monarch--Henry seeks to initiate the Queen into the mysteries of
government--_Madame la Regente_--A timely warning.

CHAPTER VI

1606

New Year's Day at Court--The royal tokens--A singular audience--A
proposition--Birth of the Princesse Christine--Public festivities--A
ballet on horseback--The King resolves to humble the Duc de
Bouillon--Arguments of the Queen--Policy of Henry--The Court proceeds to
Torcy--Surrender of Bouillon--The sovereigns enter Sedan--Rejoicings of
the citizens--State entry into Paris--The High Court of Justice assigns
to the ex-Queen Marguerite the county of Auvergne--The "Te
Deum"--Marguerite makes a donation of her recovered estates to the
Dauphin--Inconsistencies of Marguerite--The Queen's jealousy of Madame
de Moret--Increasing coldness of the King towards that lady--The frail
rivals--Princely beacons--Indignation of the Queen--Narrow escape of the
King and Queen--Gratitude of the Queen to her preserver--Insolent
pleasantry of the Marquise de Verneuil--A disappointment
compensated---Marriage of the Duc de Bar--The King invites the Duchess
of Mantua to become sponsor to the Dauphin, and the Duc de Lorraine to
the younger Princess--_The Mantuan suite_--Preparations at
Notre-Dame--The plague in Paris--The Court removes to Fontainebleau--The
royal christenings--Increase of the plague--Royal disappointments--The
Duchesse de Nevers--Discourtesy of the King--Dignity of the Duchess.

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