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).

The Fronde

It was in this year that the old prince of Condé died. The enormous power that fell into the hands of his successor was naturally looked upon with serious alarm by the regent and her minister. Condé's birth and military renown placed him at the head of the French nobility; but, added to that, the family of which he was chief was both enormously rich and master of a large part of France. Condé himself held Burgundy, Berry and the marches of Lorraine, as well as other less important territory; his brother Conti held Champagne, his brother-in-law, Longueville, Normandy. The government, therefore, was determined to allow no increase of his already overgrown authority, and Mazarin made an attempt, which for the moment proved successful, both to find him employment and to tarnish his fame as a general. He was sent to lead the revolted Catalans. Ill supported, he was unable to achieve anything, and, being forced to raise the siege of Lleida, he returned home in bitter indignation. In 1648, however, he received the command in the important field of the Low Countries; and at Lens (August 19) a battle took place, which, beginning with a panic in his own regiment, was retrieved by Condé's coolness and bravery, and ended in a victory that fully restored his prestige.

Related Topics:
Regent - Berry - Lorraine - Conti - Champagne - Longueville - Normandy - Mazarin - Catalans - Lleida - Low Countries - Lens - August 19

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In September of the same year Condé was recalled to court, for the regent Anne of Austria required his support. Influenced by the fact of his royal birth and by his arrogant scorn for the bourgeois, Condé lent himself to the court party, and finally, after much hesitation, he consented to lead the army which was to reduce Paris.

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On his side, although his forces were insufficient, the war was carried on with vigour, and after several minor combats their substantial losses and a threatening of scarcity of food made the Parisians weary of the war. The political situation inclined both parties to peace, which was made at Rueil on March 20 (see Fronde). It was not long, however, before Condé became estranged from the court. His pride and ambition earned him universal distrust and dislike, and the personal resentment of Anne in addition to motives of policy caused the sudden arrest of Condé, Conti and Longueville on January 18, 1650. But others, including Turenne and his brother the duc de Bouillon, made their escape. Vigorous attempts for the release of the princes began to be made. The women of the family were now its heroes. The dowager princess claimed from the parlement of Paris the fulfilment of the reformed law of arrest, which forbade imprisonment without trial. The duchess of Longueville entered into negotiations with Spain; and the young princess of Condé, having gathered an army around her, entered Bordeaux and gained the support of the parlement of that town. She, alone among the nobles who took part in the folly of the Fronde, gained respect and sympathy. Faithful to a faithless husband, she came forth from the retirement to which he had condemned her, and gathered an army to fight for him. But the delivery of the princes was brought about in the end by the coming together of the old Fronde (the party of the parlement and of Cardinal de Retz) and the new Fronde (the party of the Condés); and Anne was at last, in February 1651, forced to liberate them from their prison at Le Havre. Soon afterwards, however, another shifting of parties left Condé and the new Fronde isolated. With the court and the old Fronde in alliance against him, Condé found no resource but that of making common cause with the Spaniards who were at war with France. The confused civil war which followed this step (September 1651) was memorable chiefly for the battle of the Faubourg St Antoine, in which Condé and Turenne, two of the leading generals of the age, measured their strength (July 2, 1652), and the army of the prince was only saved by being admitted within the gates of Paris. La Grande Mademoiselle, daughter of the duke of Orleans, persuaded the Parisians to act thus, and turned the cannon of the Bastille on Turenne's army. Thus Condé, who as usual had fought with the most desperate bravery, was saved, and Paris underwent a new siege. This ended in the flight of Condé to the Spanish army (September 1652), and thenceforward, up to the peace, he was in open arms against France, and held high command in the army of Spain. But his now fully developed genius as a commander found little scope in the cumbrous and antiquated system of war practised by the Spaniards, and though he gained a few successes, and manoeuvred with the highest possible skill against Turenne, his disastrous defeat at the Dunes near Dunkirk (June 14, 1658), in which an English contingent of Cromwell's veterans took part on the side of Turenne, led Spain to open negotiations for peace. After the peace of the Pyrenees in 1659, Condé obtained his pardon (January 1660) from Louis, who thought him less dangerous as a subject than as possessor of the independent sovereignty of Luxembourg, which had been offered him by Spain as a reward for his services.

Related Topics:
March 20 - Fronde - Ambition - January 18 - 1650 - Turenne - Duc de Bouillon - Parlement - Duchess of Longueville - Bordeaux - Cardinal de Retz - Le Havre - Battle of the Faubourg St Antoine - July 2 - 1652 - Bastille - Defeat at the Dunes - June 14 - 1658 - Peace of the Pyrenees - 1659 - Luxembourg

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