The Life of Marie de Medicis, Queen of France, Consort of Henri IV, and Regent of the Kingdom under Louis XIII — Volume 3Pardoe, Miss (Julia)
History
The Life of Marie de Medicis, Queen of France, Consort of Henri IV, and Regent of the Kingdom under Louis XIII — Volume 3
Pardoe, Miss (Julia)
Marie de Médicis, Queen, consort of Henry IV, King of France, 1573-1642
Such was the policy of the astute and heartless minister. Only a few
hours had elapsed since he had overthrown all the most cherished
projects of Marie de Medicis, sown dissension between herself and her
son, proved to her that her efforts to struggle against his superior
influence were worse than idle; and now he artfully sought to excite her
indignation at his duplicity, and to compel her to reprisals which would
draw down upon herself all the odium of their future estrangement. He
well knew that by such a measure as that which he adopted, he must
render her position untenable; for while on the one hand he overwhelmed
her with professions of deference and respect, on the other he wrenched
from her all hope of power, wounded her in her affections, and deprived
her of the confidence of her adherents.[141] Bassompierre attempted to
disguise his mortification at the mistake of which he had himself been
guilty by designating the 11th of November on which these extraordinary
events took place as the "Day of Dupes," while the Queen-mother--whose
great error had been that, instead of accompanying Louis to Versailles,
and thus preventing all private intercourse with the minister, she had
yielded to her vanity and remained to listen to the congratulations of
the courtiers--when she learned the ruin of all her hopes, passionately
exclaimed that she had only one regret, and that one was that she had
not drawn the bolt across the door leading to her oratory, in which case
Richelieu would have been lost without resource.
Aware of his unpopularity with both nobles and people, the Cardinal
considered it expedient to signalize his restoration to power by
conferring certain favours upon individuals towards whom he had hitherto
only manifested neglect and dislike. On the 19th of November he
accordingly conferred the dignity of Marshal of France upon the Duc de
Montmorency and the Comte de Thoiras; and on the 30th of the succeeding
month he restored the Duc de Vendôme to liberty, although upon
conditions degrading to a great noble and the son of Henri IV; while he
purchased the favourites of Monsieur by large sums of money, and still
more important promises. The latter concession at once restored the good
humour of Gaston d'Orléans, who forthwith proceeded to Versailles to pay
his respects to the King, by whom he was graciously received, after
which he paid a visit to the Cardinal; but Marie de Medicis and her
royal daughter-in-law remained inflexible, and Louis so deeply resented
their coldness towards his minister that even in public he scarcely
exchanged a word with either.[142] For this mortification they found,
however, full compensation in the perfect understanding which had grown
up between them, based on their mutual hatred of Richelieu; for while
the Queen-mother dwelt upon his ingratitude and treachery, Anne of
Austria was no less vehement in her complaints of his presumption in
having dared to aspire to the affection of the wife of his sovereign.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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