The gentry of the South flocked to offer their services to the princess, who soon found herself at the head of a considerable force; and at the end of May she appeared before Bordeaux. The Parlement and the municipal authorities hesitated to receive her, in the face of the formal prohibition of the King; but the populace, incited by the agents of Bouillon and La Rochefoucauld, took the matter out of their hands, flung open the gates and welcomed her with frantic enthusiasm. The following day, leading her son by the hand, she presented herself at the Palais de Justice, to implore the protection of the Parlement. “Act as a father to me, Messieurs, since the Cardinal Mazarin has taken my own father from me,” cried the little duke, falling upon his knees; and the magistrates, partly out of compassion for this touching spectacle, and partly out of fear of the mob which was clamouring at the doors, voted that “the dame Princesse de Condé and the seigneur Duc d’Enghien might reside in that town in safety under the protection of the laws.” Next day, notwithstanding the protests of the Parlement, Bouillon and La Rochefoucauld entered the city, borne, so to speak, on the shoulders of the mob. Soon appeared a Spanish envoy, with promises of prompt and powerful assistance from Philip IV.; and Bordeaux and the greater part of Guienne were in open rebellion. The revolt in Guienne quickly assumed such alarming proportions that Mazarin decided that the presence of the King and the Regent in that province was indispensable, and having left the Maréchal du Plessis-Praslin to hold in check the insurrection in the North, on 4 July, the Court quitted Paris to join the royal army of the South, commanded by the Maréchal de la Meilleraie. La Meilleraie soon succeeded in confining the revolt within the walls of Bordeaux, but all attempts to induce the city to open its gates proved unavailing, and on 5 September the siege was begun. While the novelty of the affair lasted, the Bordelais displayed the most desperate resolution. Encouraged by the example of the Princesse de Condé, even the wives of the wealthiest citizens took part in the defence of the town, and carried baskets of earth decorated with bows of ribbon to the trenches. The little Duc d’Enghien rode to the ramparts and cried to his attendants to give him a sword, “that he might go and kill Mazarin.” Bouillon and La Rochefoucauld directed the defence-works, and, as if the siege had been a pleasure-party, “regaled the ladies with fruit and sweetmeats and the workmen with wine.” Every evening there was dancing under the ramparts, and the Princesse de Condé held a court in a brilliantly-illuminated gallery. The festivities, indeed, were continuous, notwithstanding that skirmishes, often very sanguinary, took place almost daily.