For more than twenty years, Bassompierre continued to be a flourishing courtier. Once only, in that long period, he was in danger; it was from the hostility of la Vieville, the minister, who strove to cage him in the Bastile. The time of Bassompierre was, however, not yet come, and he had the satisfaction to witness the downfall of his enemy. In the course of these twenty years, he acquired reputation, both in the field and the cabinet; he was active at various sieges and battles, particularly at the sieges of Rochelle and Montauban, and he was entrusted with embassies to Spain, Switzerland, and England, which he executed in an able manner. For a short time he had the custody of the Bastile; and, in 1623, he rose to the rank of Marshal. His being employed as a negociator was the work of the royal favourite, Luynes, who was jealous of the influence which Bassompierre possessed with the monarch. Luynes was candid enough to confess this. “I love you, and esteem you,” said he, “but the liking which the king has for you gives me umbrage. I am, in truth, situated like a husband who fears being deceived, and cannot see with pleasure an amiable man frequenting his wife.” To remove from court the man whom he dreaded, Luynes offered the choice of a command, a government, or an embassy; Bassompierre chose the last. Richelieu proved a far more formidable adversary than la Vieville. He doubted not that Bassompierre had been engaged in the late plot against him; he knew that he was a friend of the queen mother; and he suspected him of having borne a part in the clandestine marriage of the duke of Orleans with the princess Margaret of Lorraine. It is said, also, that the cardinal imagined the marshal to have voted for imprisoning him, in case of the malecontents being successful. This was more than enough to bring down on him the vengeance of the triumphant minister. Bassompierre was warned more than once of what would happen, and was advised to escape, but he refused to follow this advice. He was taken to the Bastile, in February, 1631. His arrest cost the death of the princess of Conti, to whom he had long been secretly married; she died of grief in little more than two months.