tag="{http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml}a">Marquis d'Ayetona.

ILLUSTRATIONS

VOL. III

BOOK III

MARIE DE MEDICIS AS EXILE

THE LIFE

OF

MARIE DE MEDICIS

CHAPTER I

1618

De Luynes resolves to compel the Queen-mother to remain at Blois--Treachery of Richelieu--The suspicions of Marie are aroused--Her apprehensions--She demands permission to remove to Monceaux, and is refused--She affects to resign herself to her fate--A royal correspondence--Vanity of the Duc d'Epernon--A Court broil--The Abbé Rucellaï offers his services to Marie de Medicis--He attempts to win over the great nobles to her cause--He is compelled to quit the Court, and retires to Sedan--The Duc de Bouillon refuses to join the cabal--The Duc d'Epernon consents to aid the escape of the Queen-mother--The ministers become suspicious of the designs of Richelieu--He is ordered to retire to Coussay, and subsequently to Avignon--Tyranny of M. de Roissy--The Queen-mother resolves to demand a public trial--De Luynes affects to seek a reconciliation with the Prince de Condé--Firmness of the Queen-mother--The three Jesuits--Marie pledges herself not to leave Blois without the sanction of the King--False confidence of De Luynes--The malcontents are brought to trial--Weakness of the ministers--Political executions--Indignation of the people--The Princes resolve to liberate the Queen-mother.

It will be remembered that Marie de Medicis left the capital under a pledge from her son himself that she was at perfect liberty to change her place of abode whenever she should deem it expedient to do so; and that her sojourn at Blois was merely provisional, and intended as a temporary measure, to enable her to establish herself more commodiously in her own castle of Monceaux. Anxious for her absence, De Luynes had induced the King to consent to her wishes; but she had no sooner reached Blois than he determined that she should be compelled to remain there, as he dreaded her influence in a province of which she was the absolute mistress; and, accordingly, she had no sooner arrived in the fortress-palace on the Loire than he began to adopt the necessary measures for her detention. Within a week she was surrounded by spies; a precaution which would appear to have been supererogatory so long as Richelieu remained about her person, as his first care on reaching Blois was to write to the favourite to repeat his offers of service; and he himself informs us that "from time to time he sent him an exact account of the Queen's proceedings;" while so much anxiety did he evince to retain the confidence of the Court party that when Marie, desirous of repaying the sacrifice which she believed him to have made in following her fortunes, appointed him chief of her Council, he refused to accept this office until he had written to obtain the sanction of the King; and publicly declared that he would not occupy any official situation whatever in her service until he ascertained the pleasure of his Majesty.

These servile scruples did not, however, as he himself admits, suffice to set at rest the suspicions of De Luynes, whose knowledge of the Bishop's character by no means tended to inspire him with any confidence in his professions;[1] while the Queen-mother, on her side, had soon cause to apprehend that the motives of Richelieu for his self-banishment were far less honourable than those which she had been so eager to attribute to him. Certain projects which she was anxious to keep profoundly secret became known to the favourite; and her natural distrust, coupled with this fact, induced her to be gradually less communicative to the intriguing prelate. Her spirits, moreover, gave way under the successive mortifications to which she was subjected; and combined with her somewhat tardy but deep regret at the fate of the Maréchal d'Ancre were fears for her own safety, which appeared to be daily threatened.

Her residence at Monceaux was soon in readiness for her reception; but when she apprised the King of her intention of removing thither, she received an evasive reply, and was courteously but peremptorily advised to defer her journey. Marie de Medicis from that moment fully comprehended her real position; but with a tact and dissimulation equal to that of Louis himself, she professed the most