Louis II de Bourbon, Prince de Condé

Louis II de Bourbon, Prince de Condé (September 8, 1621 - November 11, 1686). His military prowess won him the nickname "The Great Condé" (le Grand Condé).

Review

The earlier political career of Condé was typical of the great French noble of his day. Success in love and war, predominant influence over his sovereign and universal homage to his own exaggerated pride, were the objects of his ambition. Even as an exile he asserted the precedence of the royal house of France over the princes of Spain and Austria, with whom he was allied for the moment. To be first in war and in gallantry was still his aim, but for the rest he was a submissive, even a subservient, minister of the royal will. It is on his military character, however, that his fame rests. This changed but little. Unlike his great rival Turenne, Condé was equally brilliant in his first battle and in his last. The one failure of his generalship was in the Spanish Fronde, and in this everything united to thwart his genius; only on the battlefield itself was his personal leadership as conspicuous as ever. That he was capable of waging a methodical war of positions may be assumed from his campaigns against Turenne and Montecucculi, the greatest generals of the predominant school. But it was in his eagerness for battle, his quick decision in action, and the stern will which sent his regiments to face the heaviest loss, that Condé is distinguished above all the generals of his time. in private life he was harsh and unamiable, seeking only the gratification of his own pleasures and desires. His enforced and loveless marriage embittered his life, and it was only in his last years, when he had done with ambition, that the more humane side of his character appeared in his devotion to literature.

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Condé's unhappy wife had some years before been banished to Chateauroux. An accident brought about her ruin. Her contemporaries, greedy as they were of scandal, refused to believe any evil of her, but the prince declared himself convinced of her unfaithfulness, placed her in confinement, and carried his resentment so far that his last letter to the king was to request him never to allow her to be released.

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Preceded by: Henry II of Bourbon

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Prince of Condé

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Succeeded by:Henry III of Bourbon

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